A better school for our children

This blog is for parents who agree that our school building needs to be updated more than just a new roof and new boiler. We want better for our kids. We want the very old parts of our building redone. If you want to find out more, visit us often!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

The Building Committee Meeting that wasn't

Tonight at 7pm the building committee was going to meet and (hopefully) discuss the walk through that took place last week.

At 7pm, myself and several other concerned parents showed up to listen to their meeting and (hopefully) make public comment at the end, like we were promised we could do.

It 7:20pm, we were informed by another wayward committee member that the meeting was canceled. It does not have a rescheduled date as of yet.

I did not receive an email that it was canceled. They knew I was coming because I had emailed and received a confirmation email back earlier today from Diane Weston that the meeting was on.

Now - to give them the benefit of the doubt the email could have gotten lost in cyberspace, or she simply forgot. I am not on the committee, and it would have really just been a courtesy for them to let me know the meeting was canceled. So - I am not holding a grudge.

Well......not a big one.

I do plan on calling our First Selectman tomorrow and expressing my dislike that the meeting was canceled very late in the day (I found out from another committee member that it was around 4-5pm). I am also upset that they have already met with the architect and have given them an idea of what they would like him to work on. The architect was not done with his proposal, so that is why this evenings meeting was canceled.

I personally have a problem with the fact they canceled the meeting on a number of reasons. The biggest one is that I think the WHOLE committee should have discussed the walk through that occurred last week, since not all committee members were present. The committee members that did take the tour needed to share with the others what they saw, how they felt about it, and really discussed that....WITH THE PUBLIC PRESENT.

For all I know, they had a meeting, or just when they met with the architect, they shared with the committee members their thoughts. But none of that discussion was shared with the public, so we have no idea what they told the architect to work on and not work on.

This could be good or bad. It could be that they saw many things that needed to be dealt with after the walk through. This is the personal feeling I got from everyone except Mr. Asafaylo that was there. That would be great! Change of heart!

Or......they could have stuck with their original plan to just do the majors - the roof, the windows, and the boiler, and leave everything else in place.

I.Don't.Know.

Since we were at the school this evening, the parents and I had a small discussion about our feelings about all of this. We all seem to be on the same page that we need to get at this committee over the summer and really make our "unhappiness" (for the lack of a better word) known. Because if we get all the way to October, and the committee thinks that the majority of the town is okay with keeping their 70 year old asbestos filled building the way it is....then that is what will remain.

If you are not aware, an asbestos abatement is going on right now that the school. It is in one first grade classroom, and one second grade classroom. Children are not allowed in the building at this time, and the abatement will end on July 5th.

Here is a picture of the sign that is posted on the outside of the classroom at this time.



If you go inside, the whole classroom is boarded up and marked with asbestos present signs.

This is NOT the only two classrooms that have asbestos. These are the two where a crack in the floor has let the asbestos into the room, so they had no choice but to rip up the floor and replace it and get rid of it.

Our kids were in these rooms, with the cracked floor during the school year.  It was covered with plastic and then covered with a rug to keep the asbestos contained.

Just so we are clear.

Please think about coming to the building committee meetings and the parent meeting we are having. The parent meeting is tomorrow, Wed., June 30th at 7pm. At the TOWN LIBRARY. I will try and remember to bring cookies. :)

If we show up and show the committee that as concerned parents this building is not what we want for our children, that is the only way we are going to be heard. I cannot promise that it will do anything. But I can promise that if we DON'T do anything - that if we passively support change, then change will not happen.

We all want better. We need to make that known.

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