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!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Update

Just wanted everyone to know that I talked with one of the building committee members this morning, and the next meeting won't be until some time in August.  I will let you know when an official date is set.  And if anything changes, you will get an evite from me!  Hope to see most of you there!  Then we will have a parent meeting after that.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Parent meeting

Hi everyone!  Sorry it took me so long to update you on last week's parent meeting.  I had company through the weekend, and we were out and about.

Anyway - the parent meeting on Wednesday the 30th was very good.  We had about 12 people attend (including myself).  I would like to see the parent meetings get better attended as the summer goes along.  We will be having another one in the month of July, so I am hopeful for a great turnout.

Anyway - we heard from a few members of the last building committee.  We talked about some strategies to try and get what we want.  We agreed at this meeting that we would all like to see plan A (from last year) come back to life.  We would like to get to referendum and say that we would like plan A - the LAST plan.  We would also like to work with this building committee and let them know what we want as parents.  We know the building committee's charge is to lower that 15 million dollar plan.  But they don't have to lower it to basically nothing.  That is why we need parents to voice their concerns for the upcoming renovations.

We figured we aren't going to get far with this new building committee.  However, we are going to continue to go to the building committee meetings and hear what they have to say.  And if the building committee doesn't listen to our questions/comments, we can always talk with our first selectman.

I am also going to try and gather pictures of some of the problems around school.  The asbestos you saw.  We also have a leaking roof, high temperatures in some of the classrooms on very warm days (and apparently even in the winter the windows have to be opened because the classrooms get so hot), a very old electrical system, old bathrooms, and old boilers.

I am also going to try and get more detailed information from the town about the last building committee's plans.  They are available at town hall, and are able to be viewed by the public.  I would like to look more closely at the individual cost on some of the things that were going to be done.

Also - on Thursday I met with a large team about my daughter, "F".  We all agreed that the electrical system is a big problem.  I have gathered information on the amount of electricity "F"'s equipment will require and am going to submit that to Donny Bourdeau tomorrow.  He will then take a look at it, and then will be able to let myself (and the building committee) know if our current system can support it.  My guess is no, but we will see.

We did talk about putting more outlets in the classrooms where "F" will be.  While I would like them to do this in ALL classrooms, we were meeting on Thursday just about "F".  But that means that each classroom after she leaves will have more outlets, and the ability for more electrical equipment to be plugged in (no matter what, they are going to have to add more electricity - I don't see a way around this).  Donna Leake talked about using the new outlets for mini computer labs in each classroom, and I thought that sounded like a great plan.

The superintendent was also very interested in adding more bathrooms.  This was a huge plus.  She would really like this issue to be pushed by the parents to the building committee.  As some of you might know, there are about 100 children that share 2 toilets in the 5th and 6th grades.  That is pretty awful.  I think the building committee is on board with changing this, but I am not sure. I will keep you updated.

We pushed hard for change.  We made our voices heard at meetings this week.  So we need to continue.  The public MUST be involved.  We cannot passively support this and expect change.  We need at least 100 people to get what we want to referendum and probably over 200 people to come and and vote when the time comes.

Please don't expect the school to have renovations if the majority of the town doesn't come out and vote.  You MUST vote.  Because the people who DON'T want the renovations WILL come out to vote.  In large numbers.  If you want a 70 year old building to be renovated, then you MUST vote.

So help us take action!  We look forward to seeing you soon!