I’m writing in response to Kitty Axelson-Berry who urges Amherst residents to vote against the Amherst school project in a letter published Oct. 25.
She claims that prospective home buyers in Amherst will flee our town when they see a brand new, energy- and water-efficient elementary school with solar panels, outdoor learning spaces, and gardens for children. This new school would not be a “distant institution,” by the way. It would be in the same location as a neighborhood school that has been in Amherst for about 50 years.
I would like to ask Ms. Axelson-Berry if she has ever been inside the “treasured neighborhood school” that is Wildwood Elementary. Fifteen to 20 years ago, I had two daughters there and saw how learning was impaired when classes were conducted in cramped spaces separated from other classes by partitions that didn’t reach the ceiling and didn’t shut out the noise of three other classes. There was no natural light in my daughters’ classrooms. These were trying circumstances for both teachers and students. I know that the condition of the school, with moisture and mold problems, has become worse in the time since my daughters were there.
As I read further in Ms. Axelson-Berry’s letter, the fact that she is a grandmother jumped out. No doubt she, like me, is retired. As in every override measure since Proposition 2 1/2 passed, retired people who are on fixed incomes oppose overrides.
My daughters graduated from the public schools a decade ago. But does that mean I’m going to turn my back on my neighbors’ children who I see walking down the street to get on the school bus every morning? No matter how long we live, it is our responsibility to pay for the education of our neighbors’ children, anywhere they may be. They are the future and we cannot afford to let that go.
Margaret Halbeisen
Amherst