With all the work that is being done on the schools here in Waterbury, there has arisen a need for some interesting changes to serve the best interests of the students. This has become especially apparent with the renovation/construction of Gilmartin school getting underway. It is obvious that keeping the students at Gilmartin while the construction is underway would be impossible. The disruption to the learning process and the risk (however minimal) of having grade school students around construction equipment is unacceptable. The $64 question then becomes "Where do we put the students?"
The current plan being proposed by the Education Department, and supported by the Board of Education, is to move the students to the former St. Margaret's School. This move will cost Waterbury $228,305 over the life of the 19-month lease. Understandably, with the dire economic predictions, there has arisen some opposition to this move. Not surprisingly, this opposition has come from the Independent Party.
The Independents in Waterbury have opposed this particular school construction initiative from the start. On this particular issue the dispute focuses on whether or not the Board of Education can find a cheaper way to house the students of Gilmartin. While I am all for debate and would like to see the City save as much money as possible, the need to save money is less important then the need to serve the best interests of the students.
This is where the Independents and Board of Education Commissioner John Theriault have lost their focus. Commissioner Theriault feels that the best option for the city is to move the students of Gilmartin to the school that the city is currently leasing for its alternative education program. The Commissioner feels that the 80 students that are currently at St. Lucy's should be scattered throughout the district. While the Commissioner is right in assuming that the students from Gilmartin would fit at St. Lucy's and that the students at St. Lucy's could be distributed throughout the city, he blatently ignores the fundamental rule of serving in education. Do what's in the best interests of the students.
The alternative education programs that Waterbury has are designed specifically for students that are not succeeding in a regular education setting. These are students that thrive in environments of stability and need the individual attention that the alternative programs provide. These are students that will not adjust well to being seperated from the friends and teachers that they have become comfortable with, and shipped randomly to whatever school has space for them. This is further compounded by the fact that some of these students are not comfortable in schools of 1000-1500 students. They need the stability, they need the attention, they need the quiet environment that the City provides. What the students do NOT need is to be treated like heads of cattle and moved wherever is deemed convienient for the moment.
What is especially galling about this situation is the man at the vangaurd of the opposition. Commissioner Theriault has a long career of serving the students of Waterbury, as a teacher and as a principal, ironically of the same Gilmartin school that is being renovated. As a man who has spent a considerable portion of his life in a job where serving the best interests of the students is priority one, I would have expected better of him. The fact that this gentleman, who touts his experience in the educational field, would suggest ignoring the needs of the students in such a obvious manner is shocking. He should know that the students in the alternative education programs do not deserve to be treated in this manner. He should know that what is in the best interests of the students is not always the cheapest option. He should know that the school system is made up of 18,000 young men and women with individual strengths and needs. He should know that these young men and women cannot be moved around like cargo. In short, he should know better.
Thankfully the democratic majority on the Board of Aldermen will probably support the proposal from the Education Department, but it still saddens me to see someone who should know better act in such a manner. It makes one ask, if Commissioner Theriault really feels this way, what's he doing on the Board of Education?
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