By Neal Zagarella
As an Ipswich taxpayer and parent of two successful graduates of its schools, I have been disheartened by the tenor of the school building debate and disappointed by the lack of cogent leadership from our town boards. Many of the most passionate citizens on all sides of this debate are the same people that have fought hard for school funding at the ballot box and given of their time and money to support education in Ipswich. Civic engagement must be more than choosing one side and attacking the other. That breeds apathy and cynicism. Respectful open debate should be our goal.
Some positives have emerged during this process. Chief among these is that families that have experienced Doyon, love their school. The same is true for Winthrop families. Ipswich is fortunate to have two small, happy and thriving elementary school communities.
Why are we on the brink of dissolving this successful model?
Some believe that one large school will provide educational equality for all of the town’s children. This is a dubious argument. Sitting two children in the same building does not in any way guarantee that they will receive an equal education. Due to a host of factors, many of which are beyond our control, we cannot insure that two children sitting in the same room will have their needs equally met. Our job as a community is to strive to meet the needs of all its children to the best of our abilities. Some may need more than others. Moreover, I would argue that the likelihood of a child falling through the cracks is greater in a school of more than seven hundred students than it is in one with half that population.
Others cite savings to the taxpayer over the long term as a reason to build one large school. This is probably true, however, if this new school does not provide the level of satisfaction that the Doyon and Winthrop schools have provided to residents, will we really have saved anything? It seems to me that saving two happy, successful elementary school communities is more important.
Finally, getting the voters of Ipswich to approve more money for schools at the voting booth has always been difficult. The last two overrides were voted down first before passing the following year. Since one, large school will require more money from taxpayers initially, there is a good chance that it will be rejected. If it is, Ipswich will then have two aging school buildings with no state money to update them.
At the beginning of this process, similar grants were submitted for funding to the state for both Doyon and Winthrop. The Winthrop grant was accepted, while Doyon was deemed not eligible at this time. At this time is the key phrase. Many local communities, including Beverly and Georgetown, have rebuilt their elementary schools one by one as each building became eligible. We can do that here in Ipswich and preserve our successful small school communities.