Middletown parents pack meeting to say 'no' to school closures
Last time parents showed up for a school board meeting, many weren’t able to get in because the crowd was so large.
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Parents and students from the Middletown School District aired out their grievances at a budget meeting Wednesday night, saying "no" to school closures and demanding the school board find another solution.
The last time parents showed up for a school board meeting, many weren’t able to get in because the crowd was so large. But Wednesday night was a much different scene. Not only did the board hear from parents, but they also heard from students.
One student shared his fear of possibly larger classes.
"My class has 23 kids and one teacher. That’s big. I’m scared that next year at Thorne, my class will be a lot bigger. Please keep the schools open to keep my class smaller. Thank you," the student said.
Another student spoke directly to Middletown School Superintendent Jessica Alfone.
“I would like to see you and the school board use logical thinking and creative ways to save our town's most valuable asset, our schools," the student said.
RELATED: Middletown School District introduces new plan to stop closure of 3 schools by raising school taxes
RELATED: Parents left fuming as Middletown meeting locks out crowds over proposed school closures
Just last week, parents, teachers and students found out that Navesink and Leonardo elementary schools faced a shutdown and Bayshore Middle School would be combined with another school to close a $10 million budget deficit.
"I don’t want closing of the schools to be the first resort," said parent Kim Rallo.
Daniel Lizon isn't just a parent in the district, but he's also part of the grass-roots organization Save Our Schools.
"For the board so callously just come in, just clean sweep, and just say they’re going to start closing schools because they have this deficit that they haven’t managed effectively shouldn’t be our problem," Lizon said.
To avoid school closures, the board proposed a plan that included raising school taxes to a grand total of 10% - that extra green had parents seeing red.
"That is a solution that won’t close our schools but obviously nobody likes a tax increase so we’re still challenging the board that they need to also go through and be smart about their budget, because you can’t just say that you’re going to burden the taxpayers with a tax increase," Lizon said.
The district has three more meetings planned for parents and community members to make comments.
Monday, March 31, 6-8 p.m., Thompson Gymnasium
Wednesday, April 9, 6-8 p.m., High School North Auditorium
Thursday, April 10, 6-8 p.m. High School South Gymnasium
