(Keene Sentinel Editorial, July 15th. Reposted with permission)
It’s thought to be axiomatic that in self-governing democracies voters generally do the right thing. But that principle is being put to the test in the Monadnock Regional School District.
Over the years, residents of the eight-town district have had many opportunities to fix or replace their crowded and crumbling high school. But they have chosen only limited repairs and a facilities plan for a potential future.
t’s obvious that the school needs a serious upgrade. Michael Hoefer of Richmond is a member of Kids First Monadnock, a pro-schools group that recommended a warrant item earlier this year that would have added $200,000 to a trust fund for future school construction. It failed 1,629 to 1,408. “I feel our facilities show a lack of respect for the children of the district,” Hoefer told The Sentinel last spring. “To me all it takes is a walk down the aisles of Monadnock High School to realize that we are far behind a real positive and engaging learning environment.”
Actually, a drive past the place, with its portapotty classrooms out on the lot, pretty much tells the tale. Failing that, read what the New England Association of Schools and Colleges had to say leading up to its decision this past April to drop the school’s status from “warning” to “probation.” The accreditation committee wrote of overcrowding, poor air quality, inadequate facilities for the school nurse, science labs that fail to meet federal safety regulations, exterior doors that allow unwanted visitors during school hours and so on.
And this is a place we send our children.
The school was also told to improve its staff mentoring program for new teachers and to “encourage members of the school community to become active leaders and supporters of the school’s well-being.” That’s a key recommendation. Specifically, the report said the Monadnock Regional School Board should work “more effectively” with the community to increase support for school budgets and other financial needs.
It could hardly work less effectively. These officials often seem more interested in fighting among themselves than in fighting for the students. They certainly don’t provide what you could call clear leadership. For example, this past spring, the chairman of the Monadnock Regional School District budget committee was urging voters to reject the district’s proposed operating budget, which they did.
Last year, voters rejected the budget and teacher and support-staff contracts.
Despite all this turmoil, MRHS has shown much evidence of excellence. The accreditation report praised the school for its educational opportunities, its dedicated staff and the experimental Monadnock Community Connections School. Awards and other recognition abound from year to year. Most recently, the New Hampshire Art Educators Association named Monadnock regional teacher Debbra Crowder the 2007 “Art Educator of the Year.” So there’s plenty of praise to go around for students and teachers who find themselves in a tough spot, just as there’s plenty of blame to be borne by the folks who put them in it.
Speaking of blame, let’s not forget the New Hampshire school-funding system that looms in the background, poisoning everything it touches. That system charges property owners for educational expenses, based on the size of the education budget, the number of students each town sends, and the assessed values of taxable property. So the tax consequences of any given education budget can be vastly different from town to town.
Ten years ago, the New Hampshire Supreme Court declared that system to be unconstitutional “fiscal mischief” when it’s used to pay for an adequate education. Yet that fact rarely comes up in these school-budget debates, or in legislative and gubernatorial campaigns, for that matter.
Last week, the accrediting association told MRHS Principal Joseph E. Smith that, despite his efforts to have his school’s probation decision rescinded, the sanction will stand. That means an initial improvement plan will be completed late this fall. It will surely call for additional resources. Then the district will have a little more than a year to demonstrate that it’s serious about fixing the problems.
Failing that, MRHS will eventually lose its accreditation. That means students and teachers will continue to study and work under increasingly trying and dangerous circumstances, college bound seniors will be awarded transcripts from a school that has been deemed sub-par, and property values in the district towns will reflect the uncertainty of poor educational opportunities.
“It’s really now up to the taxpayers and voters,” said board Chairman Colline Dreyfuss of Swanzey the other day. It always is.
