High School Consolidation? Why not?

In June 2018, The Newport Daily News and Newport This Week published my letter as follows:

I made a motion to initiate discussion. All I asked them to do was talk. There was no second to my motion.

What does that say?  It tells me (and the public) that the Middletown Town Council thinks it intrinsically knows best and doesn’t need or want any information that might clarify the issue or even cause them to change their minds. How arrogant!  But it’s not new.

Councilpersons generally have some area of expertise that they bring to the Council, and that’s usually a good thing because it adds personal perspective to what is often a complicated matter. It becomes a problem, however, when a councilperson regards him/herself as the ultimate expert who expects the rest of the Council to follow suit “because I know best.” It is a trap we must all be aware of and ensure that what we contribute is expansive rather than prescriptive.

So the motion for discussion of the possibility of consolidating the high schools was intended to expand knowledge to assure an informed decision.

Logical reasons were provided, of course, to affect the decision to talk or not to talk with a potential partner.  The enrollments of the 2 schools is comparable (approx. 630 students in each school) so an appropriate legislated agreement would provide equal control. 

MHS enrollment itself is only 69% of capacity; RHS has been described as having the worst condition in the state.

Educators will agree that a school of 1,200 could possibly re-instate many of the lost educational opportunities for students. Some current councilmen should be able to relate to the choices they could make when they were high schoolers as opposed to what is now available.

A 2014 referendum was approved in Newport while it was defeated in Middletown by 460 of a total of 5,198 votes and the Council leaned toward favorable funding.

Recently, however, after some questionable expenditures, this Council has been more tight-handed, approving a zero increase for FY18 and merely granting the equivalent of the lost FY19 state aid. Expenses will go up, but the funding is not likely to get better.  There is a good chance that more Middetowners would now prefer consolidation to increased taxes for schools when they are not always sure the money is being spent wisely.

Finally, it should be hard to argue with a 58% state reimbursement as identified by Senator DiPalma.

Yet, obviously, the Middletown Town Council must know best since it totally disregarded the aforementioned logic and chose to remain in the dark. One can only hope that something will happen to get them to see the light.

Thanks to the writer who said, “…Stay with it. The others on the council need to go back to school!!”