Dear Editor:
The independents school board candidates, Brian Murray, Vanessa Falco, and Patricia Waiters, have joined to together as the Better Schools Now ticket. As parents who work and live in the community, we have a plan to fix the broken school system and great incentive to do so. Our plan centers around five main issues.
First and foremost, the Better Schools Now plan is to deliver a top tier high school in the next six years. Under Kids First control our high school is bottom 10 percent in the state and recently graded a “D”. 61 percent of all families move out of town before the first grade. Lottery applications for the charter schools number in the hundreds. Second, our plan reverses the culture of acceptable failure. The school system needs to support families that need it. Creating top students doesn’t end with the school bell.
Third, Better Schools Now will develop a deep community and school partnership. In a town with precious few resources the community should be embraced, not rejected. Groups like the Girl Scouts should not be priced out of holding a meeting after school. Charter families should be welcome into extra-curricular programs when possible. Community groups should be encouraged to use facilities like the swimming pool. The fourth part of our plan is to reduce massive overhead and waste. The budget went up 4 percent this past year with no new services and no public vote.
Lastly, Better Schools Now is about transparency and solutions. The pre-k placement was done in secret and had left many families scrambling for daycare. It is time to have a Board of Education that looks for solutions instead of throwing up their hands on topics like busing, budget over runs, school placement, and pre-k placement. Families leave because of the schools. Our Plan creates a future where families stay for the schools.
Sincerely,
Patricia Waiters, Vanessa Falco, Brian Murray