It’s Wrong For Ipswich

• 75% of our students live closer to Winthrop than Doyon.
• 41% of students live within one mile of downtown.
• Many struggling families in the Winthrop district depend on the close proximity and accessibility of a downtown school (for getting their children to and from school and after-school programs, teacher meetings, IEP conferences, and picking up sick children).

Tearing down a school that is in our town center, closer to 75% of our elementary students, and requiring all students to drive to school is contrary to what is set forth in the Ipswich Community Development Plan. It ignores our focus on sustainability and harms our students by relying on a location that is inaccessible for many.

From the Ipswich Community Development Plan:

“The town has generally done a good job of locating facilities in and near the downtown and should continue this trend in order to add vitality to the town center and encourage walking and biking as modes of transport. For example, virtually all of the downtown neighborhoods are now within walking distance of Winthrop Elementary school as well as the middle and high school.”

We’ve Already Said NO:

Ipswich citizens have already voted NO on this project. In a binding vote in June 2017 the townspeople rejected funding the feasibility study for the combined school at Doyon. The School Committee funded it anyway, using $200,000 from the district’s educational fund, money meant for student education. The School Committee’s and School Building Committee’s decision to move forward, despite a NO vote, is an insult to our system of government. Town Meetings are meant to count, not be circumvented.

 

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