Former CEHS Principal Shedd shares “Support for middle ground proposal”

BY JEFFREY SHEDD

I voted AGAINST the last school buildings proposal.

I will vote FOR the middle ground proposal.

I have been impressed with the process and communication throughout the latest planning work.

Based on many visits to the middle school, I can say unequivocally: it’s a mess.

The Thirties building is lovely outside and an educational nightmare inside. The classrooms are crammed, and the building needs constant repair. It’s old!

We have an A+ middle school music program in an F- music facility.

Like all Cape schools, the middle school’s design is sprawling and inefficient. But the middle school is the worst.

The middle ground proposal will address security concerns in the schools and by providing Pond Cove students their own cafeteria, it solves the main problems created by the cobbled-together union of two schools. Children will eat at a less frenetic pace, at a time that makes sense educationally and developmentally.

I am puzzled by the Town Council’s plan-free proposal to add nearly $5 million to the school bond for undefined Thirties Building work.

Nevertheless, I will still vote for the total proposal, even with this add-on, because the town’s bond counsel says this money cannot be borrowed, even if approved, until and unless there is a plan for how it will be spent.

Instead of asking taxpayers to foot the bill for undefined work on that building, why not explore whether a developer would convert it, at private expense, into apartments–possibly for our hard-working teachers, police or other town employees?