Tisbury voters have spoken, and the proposal to replace the old and outdated Tisbury School with a modern, even progressive facility, is effectively dead.
Tisbury voters have spoken, and the proposal to replace the old and outdated Tisbury School with a modern, even progressive facility, is effectively dead. Following the failed vote last week at the annual town election, it’s all but certain that the town will withdraw from the $46 million plan and in the process give up some $14 million in state reimbursement money.
What is most troubling about the vote is not the legitimate differences of opinion about how tax money should be spent, but the way the school issue has torn apart a community that sorely needs to be working together on constructive solutions to a range of problems, the inadequacy of the elementary school being just one.
Those who are celebrating their success in rejecting a plan that was two years in the making might instead be asking what they can do to help forge a more satisfactory plan, because the Tisbury School is not going to magically repair itself.
At a meeting of the building committee Monday night, critics of the school plan seemed more interested in attacking the motives of the committee than considering what the possible next steps might be. Their mean-spirited tone with a group of citizens who took on a thankless job only serves to disrupt and distract from the important job of finding a way forward.
Sadly, the town selectmen showed no leadership on the school issue, never even voting to take a formal position. Two of the three selectmen stated their individual positions — Tristan Israel was against the new school while Larry Gomez supported it. (Mr. Gomez left office last week and the newly-elected selectman James Rogers is against the school plan.)
The third selectman, Melinda Loberg, has shied from taking a public position despite the fact that she sits on the school building committee as the selectmen’s appointed member. Mrs. Loberg abstained from voting on the town meeting floor, speaking later in vague terms about the need for the school superintendent’s office to begin to explore a regional middle school.
As an elected town leader and member of the school building committee, Mrs. Loberg could have influenced the recommendation that went to voters.
Instead she ducked, depriving voters of an important guidepost going into the town meeting and election.
It’s time for the Tisbury selectmen to pull their act together. With new decisions about the school to be made and a new town hall project on the horizon, the town clearly needs to address priorities for future capital spending.
And leadership is badly needed to wrestle competing interests into policy decisions that can guide the Island’s major port through the stormy decades to come.
As the school building committee, under pressure and under fire from some quarters, attempted to bring some closure Monday to two years of work developing the plan for a new school, the fault lines of the vote were in high relief.
Limited by its geography, Tisbury has the highest property taxes of any Island town, though it still remains low compared to other Massachusetts towns. Many taxpayers, some of them living on fixed incomes, are understandably concerned about the hit to their tax bill from a $32 million school bond that would have taken 20 years to repay.
On the other side, parents and others are equally concerned about the now urgent need to significantly upgrade or replace the 1929 school that has seen too many years of deferred maintenance. They envision a school that will continue to enable excellence in education and serve the town well into the next half century.
The building committee plans to ask its grant partner for a few months to decide whether to seek a revote on the failed school proposal, but without the support of the selectmen the effort seems doomed. Let’s hear now what town leaders could support. No is not a solution.
Comments
We are all biased, but the
Grace TisburyWe are all biased, but the half truths in this editorial do very little to help Tisbury out of its' misery. The meeting Monday night was, as expected, a venting session for some, The Tisbury town leaders and even the citizens of Tisbury took a scolding from many on the TSBC and the school committee. I have never heard an appointed committee with such arrogance claim that the citizens did not know what they were doing at the polls. We were scolded for not going to the polls, and for going to the polls. That being said, enough is enough. They knew a long time ago that there would be opposition to this plan, and they persisted. Now they want to somehow drag this out by sending their letter to the MSBA without the signature of the Selectmen. To what purpose? Will it be valid? Will the Selectmen change their minds? We need to move on immediately to discussing what does the school need that can be addressed now. Then we need to form a truly town effort to get a new vision. That may have to include some tweaking of the school's "educational plan." Of course, if the School Committee and the TSBC are still determined to get a new school, the division and chaos will continue. Colleen McAndrews has adroitly advanced the us-against-them mentality by writing a letter to the editor thanking the new school supporters, including the editorial board of the M.V. Times, while apparently forgetting that it was the town meeting of 2016 that voted to give the school committee $825,000.00. That money has all been spent. So has our patience.
Excuse me, it was the
Grace TisburyExcuse me, it was the Vineyard Gazette that Colleen thanked.
"What is most troubling about
Tisbury Voter 2"What is most troubling about the vote is not the legitimate differences of opinion about how tax money should be spent, but the way the school issue has torn apart a community that sorely needs to be working together on constructive solutions to a range of problems, the inadequacy of the elementary school being just one."
This is a perfect example of concern trolling. Look it up on Google.
"instead be asking what they can do to help forge a more satisfactory plan, because the Tisbury School is not going to magically repair itself."
So, is the Gazette now doing mind reading? How does the Gazette "know" that no thinking about alternatives has been or is being done? Has the Gazette editorialist attended forums, listened to the questions, and read letters to his/her own paper? The Gazette apparently thinks it is logical to spend $825,000 on a plan that never had the support of over 50% of the community, and expect critics of the plan to come up with an alternative plan for free. Wow. That, my friend, is magical thinking.
RE "No is not a solution."
Really, the Gazette just hasn't been paying attention. The tone of this editorial is as clueless and patronizing as the paper's earlier editorial on the subject. Putting its finger on the scales to "guide" Tisbury voters is really not what the Gazette is there for, IMHO. The paper has failed to delve to understand the issues better. It has not mentioned a number of salient points. I would hope that we will get better reporting and analysis from the Gazette going forward and less "Sister Mary Gazette explains it all to you" (ex post facto).
This editorial is full of straw-man comments and unsupported assumptions that give the Gazette pretexts to browbeat Tisbury and self-righteously issue orders to the voters and the selectmen.
Let's tell a story. Grandpa
Really?! Vineyard HavenLet's tell a story. Grandpa is going to give you his house and fund the plan for what it needs. He decides to fund all the work to get quotes etc. for the job. You have to come back to Grandpa for his blessing in the end and only get 1 plan option. You and your family decide what you need and work with the money Grandpa gave you to create the plan. You like your plan, it meets your needs and low and behold the plan that costs less is tearing down the building and putting up a new one. You go to Grandpa with the less costly plan as you are trying to be sensitive to cost and get what you would like for your family. By the Way he never told you how much was too much and never told you that he was only ever going to consider a plan that was a renovation. He rejects your plan. Grandpa is frustrated and you are frustrated. Is this a wild misrepresentation of how it went in Tisbury? It was clear last June or July at the meeting in the School library when all committees were together that the plan was a new building. This was 8 months before town meeting. The first estimates were in and everyone heard them. There was feedback to reduce the costs and this happened. There was an 8 month opportunity for leaders to course correct if Grandpa was never going to support the plan. Did Grandpa ever put a cap number out there and did Grandpa announce that only a renovation would be acceptable?
Better a late course
Islander TooBetter a late course correction than none at all!
Really.
Better to waste 825K then to
Huh? VHBetter to waste 825K then to pay attention during the process? Still, we have a "its too expensive" and "let's seriously explore regional" leadership. That is not course correct! That is last minute derail. We should have had this from the start, we might have voted on something different and be going forwards today. How about Tisbury looks to regionalize before we hire a new police chief. Ooooops, not happening! Leadership would need to do what they tout. Look in the mirror!
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