That my friends was a farce. How could they vote on closing two schools ignoring the big elephants in the room - the high school, the middle school and the gold mind that is Arlington? This means that in all the proposals, they will NOT be addressing the traffic issues that Dr. Magan raised nor will they address the busing issues to Hamilton as raised by Ms. Blake. They will ignore Mr. Yarnells call to community schools with financial planning and Mr. Jackobsons warning of a rush to judgement and the lack of transparency. This hearing was just for show, Triplets diner probably held the real discourse. So much for transparency! Its clear members of this board have an agenda and the education of our children are not on the forefront. We are spearheading into the wrong kind of district and the rumor is an elementary center. To address Dr. Toleno, that man whether we agree with his politics or not, was tasked with a job and given inadequate time to do that job. I have no ill words towards him because as he stated, if he doesnt do the analysis, theyll just hire a new superintendent. To address the emotional rationale: there are studies that show community schools fair better than institutionalized schools and our children, and the ones yet to come, will become numbers in a building without the sense of community that we see that not only helps our children succeed but that unifies our communities as a whole. The arguments to the contrary are pure anecdotal evidence with no foundation based upon hearsay and my friends uncles cousin type noise. This board can and should do better than that and we have to expect more for them. Sitting for hours at a meeting hearing stories of yonder is absurd. They need to either give the public more time for active engagement or limit their own speeches accordingly. Thats my take from tonight, what is yours?
Posted on: Fri, 24 Jan 2014 04:33:31 +0000