The issue of the additional $6 million appropriation for the high school expansion project will come to the voters Oct. 7. We believe this is the right project at the right time for Newtown. The high school is overcrowded today. Students struggle – and often fail -- to get into the classes they need to complete mandated graduation requirements. The lack of adequate differentiated learning spaces – such as science labs – directly affects a student’s ability to pursue the pre-requisites for their intended college major. Many classes are taught in inappropriate settings, and students are often forced into an unsupervised free period, which raises security and safety issues. This bad situation will only worsen as Newtown’s wave of larger classes begins entering the high school in September 2009.
Waiting to fix this problem is not a viable option. Many state economic experts predict that the costs of construction will escalate substantially if we delay and rebid the project. These risks are too great. The project as designed provides the critical differentiated learning space Newtown needs now.
Please vote in this important referendum: Oct. 7, 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Newtown Middle School.
For background information, blueprints, financial details, and a video, please click here