Letter To The Editor – The Misguided Board Of The Berlin School District

To the Editor:
Reality television has come to the Berlin Central School District. After witnessing the last “Budget Workshop” meeting of the BCSD, I’m trying to determine whether the Board members were auditioning for “Survivor” or “The Gong Show.” Here’s a sampling of some of the comments made by Board members to their fellow Board members: “Shut up, I’m talking!” and, “You don’t tell me what to do!” and, my favorite inter-board communication “Go to hell!” So much for civil discourse.
This year has been very difficult for our community but offers a chance to make some fundamental decisions regarding the future of the Berlin Central School District. We all know the problems – a rapidly declining school population even faster than projected by the Board only 3 months ago, significant shortfalls in state aid and potential shortfalls in federal aid to the district, the closing and consolidation of Grafton Elementary into Berlin Elementary, personnel reductions in teachers, administrators and staff, replacement and repair of an aging building infrastructure, ever increasing contractual obligations with the unions and interim leadership at the Superintendent level. On top of these fiscal issues are disturbing social concerns impacting the District including amongst the highest student drug and alcohol problems in the region and a lack of educational mobility and job opportunities for our graduates.
I have suggested at previous BOE meetings that the community should be formally engaged through an advisory committee which can provide guidance to the Board with regards to the strategic direction of the District. Some questions for this advisory committee to possibly consider include – Should Grafton close and be consolidated now before we find out if Berlin Elementary will be annually certified for compliance with all health, safety and building codes by the State Dept. of Education? Should the District offer k-12 grades or should our high school students be sent to adjacent school districts with all remaining students consolidated into one school building in Cherry Plain? Should BCSD merge with the New Lebanon school district or another school district? Should the district spend $6 – $12 million renovating Berlin Elementary? Should we continue to tie up more and more of our services with BOCES? So many really important questions to ask and be answered, yet the Board and Administration, in my opinion, have no interest in asking the community for its guidance.
Instead of seeking community input so that a realistic 5 year plan can be discussed and proposed, our Board agrees to close Grafton Elementary starting next school year and consolidate through the use of portable buildings at Berlin Elementary, to propose funding structural operating deficits with one time transfers from cash reserves and the use of Stimulus Act funds, to increase our reliance upon BOCES services, to pay out bonuses to encourage early retirement for some teachers, to hire another school administrator and to install point-of-sale registers in the cafeterias. When questioned whether the Board would consider asking for some immediate economic concessions from the union contracts, the answer from the Superintendent was that it was considered but not worth the negotiation effort. To answer my opening question, the community has been placed into a Survivor episode, while Board members compete for the prize on The Gong Show.
Heinz Noeding,
Hill Hollow Road, Petersburgh