Keene LTE

[Kat Kanning]

Closing school will save big bucks
   

To The Sentinel:

Congratulations to Superior Court Judge John P. Arnold for a ruling that will allow the Monadnock school board to continue in its efforts to reduce the costs to taxpayers by closing Surry school.

It is understandable that residents of Surry with kids in the school would be upset, but they must try to understand that many residents in the other seven towns making up the school district, as well as many homeowners in Surry itself, are in a tight financial situation with rising gas and heating oil prices and ever increasing property taxes. If a school has only a handful of students, it cannot justifiably be kept open.

The fact is the student population in our region is diminishing. Looking at the stats, there could be 60 to 70 fewer 7th graders next year.


      


Extrapolating this out a few years, one can see quite a drop in the student population at the high school, which brings me to my next point.

With gasoline prices having reached $3 a gallon, and home heating oil expected to rise to nearly $2.50 a gallon in the winter, now is not the time to pursue bonds for building new classrooms, especially in lieu of the demographics.

And, the teachers should not expect another set of yearly raises, since they just got finished with a three-year wage increase that, when compounded, gave them close to a 15-percent increase. One has only to look at the salaries and benefits that they are receiving for nine months work to realize they are doing quite well.

Finally, I would ask the board to please seriously consider closing down Monadnock Community Connections school.

This is a program that takes taxpayer money from both the federal and local levels, yet questionably benefits only 30 or so students. Like Surry, and in light of our worsening economic situation, it cannot be justified.

Many taxpayers see public education as nothing more than a money pit. It is up to the board to try to change this perspective.

Consolidation and spending reductions, as well as employees being satisfied with the salaries they already have, will go a long way towards changing this sensitivity.

JAMES RADMORE

P.O. Box 10322

Swanzey

[Lloyd Danforth]

What do you call 50,000 rented out for privite purposes?



A start!