Dublin withdrawing from Conval won’t improve educational quality. Our elementary school is excellent, with terrific staff. But residents will have no voice, no votes, and no input on the education of half our students.
Withdrawal may not save us money. We will be obligated to pay for a new level of administration, all special education costs for Dublin students through age 21 and transportation of all our students. We will lose any economies of scale. The State of New Hampshire sends more money to private and religious schools, resulting in less support for public education.
The complex process of withdrawal and the plan for the education of all our students won’t be fully developed until after we vote to approve it. With a new bond off the table, we have more time to develop the plan before we make such an important decision.
Public schools exist because in this country we recognize a shared responsibility for the education of our next generation. This means all of us, including those with no children or lots of children. The ConVal district was formed to share this responsibility across nine towns. Last year, our community experienced a divisive study and proposal for consolidation. It was defeated, but another divisive process, the feasibility study, followed.
District-wide, we haven’t had a chance to heal from last year’s events. The community voted against consolidation; the school board voted against withdrawal. Hard feelings everywhere. We need to come together as a community and work to solve our problems with new proposals other than consolidation or withdrawal. Let’s bring up emerging new ideas and find ways to ease our burden and compromise over our differences. Let’s talk.
May Clark
Dublin