Stamford Board of Education Public Forum Comments

I am Jeff Herz, a proud parent of a Toquam 1st grader.

First of all, I would like to thank you each of the members of the Board of Education for the hard work that you have put into this redistricting effort to date. I know having attended multiple meetings for the past four months that this is not an easy task you are undertaking, and your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Tonight, I am going to ask a different question. How is the overall redistricting process, making Stamford a better community overall? We understand the value of diversity in each and every school, since Stamford is in fact a diverse environment. The effort to keep our schools balanced and diverse is commendable and should be applauded.

However, we need to ask what message does discussing a school closure send to those outside our community looking in? What does this say about the value of education here in Stamford if we actually close any elementary school?

When a perspective new member of our community is evaluating this town, and they see that the Board of Education is considering or is actually going to close a school, what message does that send? How are we supposed to attract new citizens, new tax payers, new families, new neighbors if our community perception is that we don't care about education?

Closing any of the five targeted school or any of the other schools sends a negative message to those outside our community that says Stamford does not care or value about education. They are more interested in saving money rather than making the schools better.

We are losing to many people to the W's (Westport, Weston, Wilton) which are perceived to have better schools. I myself am not a life-long Stamford resident, though my wife is, and we are both products of public schools. I am proud to send my son and eventually my two pre-schoolers to public schools, hopefully to Toquam Magnet.

How does redistricting make us a better community? Where and how does this question fit into the redistricting committee agendas moving forward, because at the end of the day isn't making the schools better the ultimate goal? I would advocate that 13 elementary schools made up of five magnets and eight community schools would be the best way to serve the community and say to the state we are serious about education and making this district the best small urban district in the country.

Finally, if all five magnets are utilized as they are supposed to control overpopulation and keep the out-of-balance schools in balance. This might mean to spend more time and money advertising magnets to the educationally disadvantaged community or it might mean changing some of the curriculum to bring more educationally advantaged students into the magnets in the south end, that have had problems attracting them in the past. If the magnets are utilized properly and managed on a year-to-year basis, then there is never a need to redistrict again. Since if the magnets are managed, then we are essentially redistricting every single year through the lottery, and a basic marketing campaign in the schools that are overpopulated or out of balance. Thank you for your time.

Please check out the Save Toquam Blog for comments made by the Save Toquam community to the Stamford Board of Education on Tuesday January 8, 2008 at Cloonan Middle School.