Several friends have asked why I voted against building the new elementary school in Amherst, even though I hated to see the loss of such a large sum of money.
I remember when the Wildwood and Fort River schools were built, people like me thought it was so clever to use the same architectural plans for Fort River that were drawn up for Wildwood. We all thought that it would save the town some money — and it did.
But the fact that these buildings were made for an educational plan that failed, and that they became white elephants due to their design, made some of us very wary of building a new school that also did not have a sound educational plan. It had an unusual splitting of students into groups that none of the top 25 elementary schools in Massachusetts have.
One superintendent who had a somewhat similar plan in the eastern part of the state said he regretted it — the parents were not happy.
My “no” vote on the schools was to prevent another mistake like Wildwood and Fort River. I wanted a sound educational plan behind any new buildings — similar to the top schools in Massachusetts.
Diana Stein
Amherst
