Politics & Government
Editorial: No To $55 Million Marblehead School
In spite of all the hard work, it is the wrong plan at the wrong time.
There are many good reasons to vote against Question 1, the proposed $55 million school, on the ballot this Tuesday. But the primary reason has to do with the planned demise of two neighborhood schools.
Everyone knows that elementary, and indeed all, children learn best in neighborhood schools.
The current plan calls for abandoning two neighborhood schools and creating a new, much larger elementary school on the existing Bell School property.
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In spite of the hard work accomplished by the Building Committee, it appears that their final solution was a conglomeration of compromises. Instead they should have admitted that they did not have a good solution and come back to the town for further guidance.
While the Building Committee was at work, the School Department and the School Committee were frequently at odds sometimes resulting in heated public disagreements. An illegal bookkeeping scandal and subsequent budget battle saw the entire top level of the School Department retire or resign, and caused the chair of the School Committee to leave.
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It is against this backdrop that the Building Committee proposed that the newer Bell elementary School be demolished and a new $55 million school should take it place, thus locating all the elementary schools in the same part of town.
Yes, the new school costs too much. At almost three times what the comparable Glover School was cost only a few years ago, this is the largest single purchase in town history.
Yes, the new school is too close to the other schools and will create a traffic nightmare.
Yes, the School Department leaders will be new to their positions and they would be making the educational decisions about the new school.
Yes, the School Committee now has only six years of combined experience between them and they would be overseeing the fiscal management of the new school project.
But, most importantly, it is the loss of neighborhood schools that will be irreplaceable if Question 1 passes. This decision should be made with a stable School Management Team and not be part of some compromise solution.