October 17, 2006

BY SYDNEY SCHWARTZ

Copyright © 2006 Republican-American

WOODBURY - The Region 14 Board of Education unanimously voted Monday night to reconfigure Bethlehem and Woodbury's elementary schools.Bethlehem Elementary School will become Bethlehem Primary School, housing all kindergarten, first- and second-graders from Bethlehem and Woodbury.

Woodbury's Mitchell Elementary School will become Mitchell Intermediate School, housing third- through fifth-graders, who will then graduate to the current Woodbury Middle School across the street.

The changes will take effect next year.

Some of the 150 parents who attended Monday night's school board meeting at Nonnewaug High School pleaded with members not to rush into a decision that they said would split families by busing siblings to the "other town." They requested a referendum be held.

Others, tired of failed votes to create more classroom space, said the change can't happen soon enough.

"This is an emotional issue. There's no question about it," said school board Chairman John Howard. "There are people that are for it. There are people that are against it. It's the nature of any large change."

Superintendent Robert D. Cronin, who arrived in the district in July, thinks Mitchell Elementary School should be renovated, but said improvements could likely be scaled back from the $37 million proposal rejected at referendum last spring.

He believes his plan will improve curriculum and development by giving teachers of each grade regular contact, and allow for new programs, such as a full-day kindergarten.

It will also bring children from both communities together earlier, and bring fifth-grade students back to the elementary level, since Mitchell Elementary School's fifth-graders have been housed at the middle school since 2005.

Both elementary schools will be about the same size. Bethlehem Elementary School already houses about 100 Woodbury students.

The school board has discussed the outdated facilities and overcrowding for almost three years with no resolution. It tried to buy land on Route 6 adjacent to the high school for a new school, but the effort failed at referendum in May 2004.

In June, Region 14 residents defeated the $37 million school renovation that would have allowed for renovations and expansions at Mitchell and parts of Nonnewaug High School, and upgrades at Bethlehem Elementary and Woodbury Middle schools.

Proponents think Cronin's proposal could resolve the problem.

"I'm here as a Region 14 resident," said Lisa Moisan of Woodbury, a former school board member. "I urge you all to vote 'yes.' This plan is a thoughtful solution."

Opponents asked why the board couldn't go back to the people for another vote on the Mitchell renovation, and suggested just sending more Woodbury students to Bethlehem.

"My kids, if this passed this year, would never go to school together," Caroline Maschio of Woodbury, who said she moved to town two years ago to have a "long-term relationship" with a school.