Lesson learned from Plymouth school delays

This letter, by a former Plymouth school committee member, was published in the March 6, 2011 Boston Globe, in the Globe South section. Thank you, Pat, for sharing your experience.

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I was interested to learn that Duxbury is currently approved to receive state reimbursement of over 43 percent for a new middle and high school, pending the outcome of a town vote.

As a former School Committee member in Plymouth, as well as a parent whose children were educated in “portable classrooms’’ (trailers) at Plymouth North, I urge Duxbury residents to not make the same mistake that Plymouth did. Back in 2003, Plymouth voted “No’’ to building a new high school, despite being approved for almost a 70 percent state reimbursement under the old guidelines for School Building Assistance. Plymouth passed up all that state money, left it on the table with a “No’’ vote, and the new Silver Lake High School was built in neighboring Kingston.

Meanwhile our schools were in a warning status for accreditation, our scores kept going down, and our students continued to be educated in trailers. Plymouth finally voted “yes’’ in 2006, and then had to wait to reapply under the new School Building Assistance guidelines. Approval was granted a second time, but at a lower rate.
 

Now a new Plymouth North is finally in construction here, as part of the state Model School Program, and we are receiving state reimbursement. Plymouth will finally have a new high school completed for the graduating class of 2013.

Don’t make Plymouth’s mistake — Vote “yes’’ to a new school building and have the state money come to Duxbury while you can.

Pat Adelmann
Plymouth