Community member Erin Sharp has sent the following letter to the Board and posted it to the Oyster River Community Facebook page:
October 24, 2013
Dear Dr. Morse and Members of the ORCSD School Board,
As I am sure all of you have been doing, I have been listening to the community dialogue regarding equalizing enrollment in the District. I have written two previous letters to the Board advocating for redrawing bus routes in order to limit the number of school transitions that our children experience. However, I am now writing a third letter to the Board expressing my change of opinion.
My family is relatively new to New Hampshire and the ORCSD, and I have learned a great deal about our community over the last few weeks. Based on my educational background, I do still feel that the best educational environment is one that limits transitions. I still believe that the ideal model for education is a K-8 and 9-12 configuration. However, I now see the potential for positive results for children, teachers, and community members from bringing all of our elementary school students together (option 2).
Why have I changed my mind? First, I feel like redrawing bus lines is only an appropriate choice if families who have already started the elementary school experience are grandfathered in to their current schools. After reflecting on this option, it is clear that we cannot endorse an option as a District that would remove children from the school that has already become their home. Second, there is the concern that we may be in this exact same position as a District in a few years. I have looked at the data on enrollment expectations in the District and it does seem that “do nothing” is an option; but do we trust those data given the unexpected numbers at the start of this school year? It certainly won’t be healthy for our community to be here again.
Finally, I have changed my mind and feel comfortable endorsing Option 2 because it seems that restructuring our elementary schools so that students spend time at both Mast Way and Moharimet offers a real opportunity to improve our community. If having two separate elementary schools has caused division in our community, why not use this time as an opportunity to address this division? My only hesitation is that I want reassurance that the District will be strategic and thoughtful if reorganization takes place. Can we be confident that the administrators, teachers, and staff will commit to approaching this as an opportunity to enhance the experience of our elementary school students? Are we up for this challenge?
Sincerely,
Erin Hiley Sharp
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