RECONSIDER TOWN OWNED OTTER RIVER SITE FOR NEW SCHOOL

This letter is hidden in the editorial section of the online Gardner news, it does not show up in "letters to the editor     " seems strange?           11/24/2015 7:47:00 AM
Letter to the editor Reconsider site for new school, vote     'NO'

If a new school is the solution to the town’s educational problems, then the current site chosen for that school is NOT part of the solution.

Placing a large, three-story school building capable of accomm­odating 550-plus students on the site of the existing school grounds will not only eliminate all of the open recreational space that our young people use today, but will place the town in the position of not having any room for future changes or growth in this school.

My father served on the School Committee during the planning and construction of the original Narragansett Regional School, and I can recall that when that site was selected one of the main considerations was that land was available to accommodate future changes.

In January of 1958, with the opening of the Narragansett Regional High School, no one would have guessed that over the next 58 years the town would have added a whole new second school as large as the original one, with a second even larger gymnasium, or constructed a football field with grandstands and a field and track facility on what was once considered sloping wetlands. Today, with the increase in staff, and at least a third of the upper-classmates driving themselves to school, there was the need to add three additional parking lots (for which space was available). We have also constructed a new heating system and a large wind turbine on the site. Students are able to safely board and disembark school buses, well away from the main road, not adding to traffic congestion.

All of these things were possible because the original planners for Narragansett Regional School considered the need to leave options open for future growth and change.

Please don’t let the state, because of its imposed timelines, push us into making a poor decision on the site for this otherwise fine design for a new school.

Vote “NO.” This time around. Go back and re-examine a couple of previously rejected sites and we could have a school with a future and winner all around.