I do not believe closing the four elementary schools will ultimately save any money or lower taxes. In fact, I predict the task of actually performing the reorganization could run into all types of unexpected problems which will be costly. Solving these problems will consume excessive amounts of time on the part of the School Board when they could be working on improving student outcomes. The SAU administration will most likely need additional resources to handle the increased reorganization workload.

I also do not believe closing the schools will significantly improve student outcomes. My experience volunteering in some of the elementary schools is that the teachers are highly motivated and engaged in educating their students. Although larger schools may offer some additional opportunities, my experience in school or any other organization is that smaller groups develop strong friendships, and offer significant opportunities for team work to learn and solve problems. Smaller schools with smaller class sizes also are able to provide more individualized attention to students.

These children have just lived through the COVID pandemic, which was the greatest disruption to education in the last century. Now many of these same kids are going to have more disruption and apprehension with new schools, long bus rides and larger class sizes.Additionally, a number of the smaller towns are forming committees looking into pulling out of the district altogether. This disruption will distract even more from actually improving educational performance.

David Dewitt

Dublin