Letter to the Editor: North Reading School Building Project

Twelve months ago the residents of North Reading approved the override and overall project support for the new High School/Middle School project by a wide margin of voters of about 80% in favor.  As an 18 year resident of the town, it was one of the best examples that I have seen of cross community support across many sectors of the town, not just families with school age (or future school age) children, but among seniors, singles and families whose grown children have benefitted from prior investments in the North Reading school system. Part of this support was based on the principle that there is an obligation of the current generation to provide the same investment in the next generation’s opportunities for prosperity as was provided to previous generations.

At the time of the vote last March, there was debate on the scope of the project, classroom sizes, sports and arts oriented facilities and the tradeoffs associated with a project of this magnitude. The cost of the project was also clearly important, as was the state’s level of reimbursement. But the decision to move forward was less focused on the overall cost as the need for the community to have a school system at the high school/middle school level that is current and competitive with the investments made by our neighboring towns in new schools as this impacts the quality of the education, and the attractiveness of the town as a community to live in which drives all of our property values.

Unfortunately, the estimate for the cost of the project was low. While the reaction of most of us as consumers is kneejerk disappointment and desire to attribute blame, at the end of the day we, the residents, are stuck with how to move forward. The cost of the project and impact to real estate taxes was, and is, enough of an issue for some not to be in favor of voting to add to the cost of the project at this point. But for most of the 80% that voted in favor of the project last March, you have to ask the question of how would you have voted differently if the project budget then was 15% higher than what was voted on last March? Putting aside the anger that some may feel for the way things have gone against the cost of the project in those 12 months, if the true cost had been known last March I believe the project would have succeeded in obtaining the voter’s support as it did last year.

What has not changed is that the community, not just families with children, was looking for a quality, competitive centerpiece that benefits a substantial part of the community. Without the override for the additional funding the project will cut elements of the arts, sports and other programs that contribute to the core educational experience of the school. We will end up with a new school that is not competitive with our surrounding towns in many cases and is not consistent with the vision the majority of voters approved last March. We need to band together as we did last March and complete the vision as we saw it then. A few years from now most of us, I believe, will have forgotten about the extra funding required to complete the project and will be enjoying the quality educational facility and center for community activities that the HS/MS project will provide with a successful vote.

Paul Bailey

21 Duane Drive