Letter to the Editor: Yes Vote Would Ease Overcrowding

To the Editor:

Why I am voting yes on Tuesday is a positive step for the Huntington Union Free School District. The district has been grappling with space needs for several years now and has never taken a big step to build for the future. There have been baby steps along the way but never a large investment in buildings/facilities as our neighboring districts have done over the past 10 years.

During the past 10 years, the district has done capital improvement projects that include installing new windows and doors on buildings, replacing roofs, replacing fuel tanks and even a multi-million dollar upgrade of athletic fields and bleachers at the high school. Yet, for several years now we've heard that school enrollment is going up. To deal with overcrowding at three schools in the district in 2007, the recommendation was to re-draw the district lines and shuffle students around in addition to adding two classrooms at Woodhull. That was a band-aid fix that many admit to today and here we are in Huntington still dealing with the overcrowding. We have limited space in five buildings now. 

The Board of Education voted unanimously to move forward with a referendum to begin to take more steps to ease the overcrowding. Some say they want to see the big plan before spending dollars. As a member of the school district's Long-Range Facilities Planning Committee, I can tell you that we met last week and were told that our September deadline will now be extended. If the committee puts forth recommendations by year's end, then the BOE needs to discuss and vote on it. After that, a referendum to spend more funds on buildings will be put to the residents of the school district. That may not happen until next summer.

When all is said and done, the delay to build anywhere in a district that is bursting at the seams in five of its seven schools could be over two years away. The proposed additions to the Woodhull building could be functional to use at some point in the 2011-12 school year. That could ease the burden of the overcrowding across the primary schools.

I believe in planning and I also believe that investing in $2 million is part of a plan that has been long overdue in this district that has needed it for so long. It's a baby step to a more long-term solution. My investment is in my 6-year-old and 2-year-old children's educations. As part of that investment, the $2 million is a step toward that larger investment for all children who will be educated in HUFSD. This is just one step in building blocks to the future for the Huntington school district.

Michele Kustera
Huntington