Easthampton’s government has left the schools to rot through 25 years of underfunding.
Now, many of the same people who opposed paying to maintain the schools are against replacing the schools that they let get to this state. We must end this cycle. Easthampton does in fact need a new school.
Having few other options, opponents have decided that the best strategy to stop it is “death by a thousand cuts.” They throw everything against the wall, true or not. The end effect is that the water has been so muddied that a percentage of people believe something that is untrue and will vote “no” on bad information.
Let’s take the issue about concerns over the stability of the ground beneath the school. Spending three minutes reading the frequently asked questions or watching any of the videos of the public forums show this issue is solved. The engineers and architects have confirmed this repeatedly. Building technology and codes have increased since the 1970s. However, there are people who took the bait on this, and will vote “no.”
It goes on: “We’re still paying for the new high school. Our roads are bad. Why should we pay for a new school when our kids graduated already? Is the K-8 model good? The asbestos is safe. I saw a crack in the new high school. The new school isn’t 100 percent renewable! Do we really need windows in the new school?
This steady stream of bad arguments and incorrect information has in fact solidified a base against the new school, sadly based on misinformation.
Votes matter, and showing up is the most important thing you can do in a democracy. Easthampton deserves better. Vote “yes” on May 22.
Chris Korczak
Easthampton