That Old shakedown

You'd think they'd have learned by now.

Last night's meeting at the high school drew a capacity crowd of citizens angered by the Education plan to lay off 54 teachers and close Molloy and Thompson schools.  This little gem of a plan was hatched  by our very own $155,000.00-a-year genius, Superintendent Neil Cavallaro:

Leaving aside all the emotional considerations (for the moment), there's some hard facts that have to be faced.  First of all, it's no secret that school boards around the state and all over the country are facing declining student enrollment, declining tax revenues, and skyrocketing costs.  So it cannot be argued that West Haven's schools are facing a real crisis.

Having said that, it's also true that the steps proposed by Cavallaro to address this problem should properly be the last option: before we start cannibalizing our assets, we should first attack our costs.  

We should look at the bloated administration staff at Ogden Street: a mare's nest of petty patronage jobs and over-compensated individuals.

We should look at finding savings in non-essential programs:  perhaps requiring athletic teams to pay for equipment and the upkeep of the physical plant (such as Ken Strong Stadium, Bennett Rink, and so on).

We should be able to open discussions with the various unions to investigate possible savings in health and pension costs (that is, we should if our administrators were acting in good faith; and it's clear that they're doing everything possible to avoid that.)

We should also look at the costs of closing these schools and the loss of these teachers.  West Haven received millions in grant money to upgrade these schools...money that will have to be repaid if these schools are closed.  We will lose the inestimable future value of these young, dedicated teachers of our children.  And how much fuel and time will be wasted carting kids willy-nilly all over the City?  And how much additional costs will be incurred helping these kids to become acclimated to a new school,  new friends, and new teachers?

The administration seems to think of our schools like a warehouse:  it's one thing to ship a bunch of boxes from one location to another.  But our children are living, thinking, and vulnerable human beings: the intangible cost of this proposed upheaval has to be considered.

It is obvious that this dog of a plan is likely to end up costing the taxpayer - in real dollars and indirectly -  for many years to come.  And so, the plan should be shelved, and the administration be directed to explore other means of saving the money necessary to continue their vital mandate of properly educating our most precious asset: our children and our future. 

Sadly, though, it's also obvious that this ill-advised route has been chosen.  The powers-that-be will give vent to the righteous anger of the people, nod sagely and make comforting statements about how they understand and feel this pain...and then will do whatever they damned well please.