Bailey Richard and Isabel N. Grace: All things must pass

We wholeheartedly support Amherst-Pelham Regional School District Superintendent Xiamara Herman’s proposal to close the middle school and have the district’s seventh and eighth graders taught in the high school building.

We have it on excellent authority that the middle school is deteriorating irretrievably. We owe it to the children to get them out of a bad place. If Herman’s plan is realized, we should surround the structure with a very high chain-link fence and let nature take its course. Left to itself, the building will crumble. Trees, grass — perhaps a vernal pool or two — will exceed rubble.

It would benefit children of future generations to witness nature doing what it does inevitably: wearing away all things created by humans and nature itself. Students of science would have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to witness entropy and reforestation in action. Imagine the attraction for time-lapse filmmakers!

Why waste money on demolition? We have a unique opportunity. Let’s not squander it.

Bailey Richard and Isabel N. Grace

Amherst