Berlin Elementary: An Unsafe Building?
Dear Editor,
I am a longtime resident of this area and a one-time School Board member for the Berlin School District. You may recall I was on the Board when Toni Diamond returned to Berlin. I left the Board early after many long nights spent in Executive Session while my elementary age daughter waited for me alone at the school. She had to go to meetings with me as we had no babysitter. It was no picnic for her.
I was a single mother with a full time job, and when the choice came down for the umpteenth time to sit in long meetings until midnight or to take my daughter home, I finally chose to be with my daughter.
One of the points I brought up to the Berlin School Board then that I will reiterate now is that the Berlin Elementary School still does not have a new or working ventilation system, to my knowledge. Cramming additional children into an already toxic school during long winter months will simply mean that we, the parents and taxpayers, will have more sick children at home. It also means that the hardworking teachers and staff at the school will become sicker, more asthmatic and less able to work.
Why the School Board is still considering additional buildings I’ll never understand. Why our lovely smaller elementary schools are set to be closed I’ll never understand either. I truly believe that if we, the taxpayers had an actual say in our local government and how our school dollars are being spent, we would disagree with the plans that have been set forth by people who are no longer even employed by the BSD.
My experience on the Berlin School Board taught me one thing, and that is that Executive Session is where all the decisions are made, behind closed doors. It’s a sad commentary on our local area that our children do not seem to come first and personal agendas leave a legacy as what was recently left to us here.
If there was a way for us to come together and effect change, for the good of our children and for the good of our community, I strongly believe we could enact that change ourselves and create a better school environment.
I agree that we should work within the confines of voting to make a real change, but I wish we could do more.
Julie Harrell
Cherry Plain Square Road, Cherry Plain
Editor’s Note: Many school boards in our area use executive sessions to discuss and decide issues. Often they violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the New York State Open Meetings Law.