An open letter to Peter Burrows, superintendent of the Addison Central School District (ACSD), to the board members of the ACSD, and to the members of the communities of Bridport, Cornwall, Middlebury, Ripton, Salisbury, Shoreham and Weybridge:
I am concerned about the proposal being discussed by the Addison Central School District to move 6th-grade students to the middle school. I find it troubling that a proposal is being floated that could threaten the smaller schools in the district with possible closure and consolidation by rendering them smaller yet. The area served by each of our schools is broad enough.
I’d hate to see children spending more time being bused in from farther away; my eight-year-old son is on the bus for nearly an hour after school each day as it is.
Closing the smaller schools would also be a blow to their communities. As Wendell Berry points out in his novel, “Jayber Crow,” the school is the heart of the community in a small town. I hope that any measure resulting in a school closure will meet strong opposition. I for one am against it.
John-Eric Robinson
Weybridge