I am a current member of the Marlboro Board of Education and my opinions are mine and do not reflect those of the Marlboro K-8 School District Board of Education.
For 38 years I served as a vice principal and principal in the Marlboro schools and I have witnessed how the schools have aged. Defino Central School was opened in 1956. Dugan Elementary, the “newest” of the elementary schools, opened in 1987.
I fail to understand how some members of the community and Board of Education do not realize or care that the infrastructure will fail, sooner or later. Imagine your own home with a heating system that is approaching the age of Social Security. I would think you would have replaced this system several times during the last 61 years.
Should there be a failure in a school’s heating/hot water system, that school would have to be closed and those students sent to other schools in the district. Think of that impact upon you and your kids. Think of the extra costs needed for additional school busing.
Why not fix the infrastructure before its failure impacts children? Why not make the schools 21st century schools to support 21st century learning? As one editorial suggested, let’s do this over 10 years. Given that idea, we will potentially have heating systems that are 71 years old. Do you think this is a good idea?
Just because the state has always offered money toward school improvement, that is no guarantee it will continue. The past is not necessarily a predictor of the future. Why not use the “30 percent Kohl’s coupon” now before the state changes its mind?
I encourage all of my former middle school students and parents, all of my Robertsville students and parents, and all members of the community to please come to the polls on Sept. 26 and vote yes. I know that my vote will be to support the schools and all of my “kids.”
Stephen Shifrinson
Marlboro
