The Dorchester School District 2 Infrastructure Referendum Advocate Task Force held a press event on Monday, April 29th at Hutchinson Square in downtown Somerville to highlight the first day of early voting.
The event, hosted by members of Dorchester's 2 Citizens for Better Schools group, was attended by teachers, parents and other supporters of the referendum, urging support for the referendum on the first day of early voting. .
The upcoming referendum on May 14th is a special election that will give voters the choice of whether to extend the bond from the previous school infrastructure referendum in 2012 into the future without raising resident taxes. This will allow us to begin construction on two new primary schools, provide equipment upgrades at each DD2 school, reduce class sizes for children and implement safety upgrades to ensure safer schools. funds will be released.
“Our school was built to accommodate 1,000 students, and now we have over 1,200,” said Beech Hill Elementary School fourth-grade teacher and current DD2 Teacher of the Year. says Schoeneke Summerhill. “I have 32 students in my class, and meeting the individual needs of each student in my classroom is a challenge. We need that number of people to respond.'' Come down. ”
By next school year, DD2 will have five schools and seven schools considered overcrowded by 2025, according to numbers released by the district. DD2 predicts that the number of students will increase by 700 to 1,000 students each year over the next 10 years.
Other speakers at the event emphasized the impact of outdated and underfunded facilities on student morale and success. They argued that investing in the school district's future benefits the future of the entire community.
Meredith Noah is a science teacher at East Edisto Middle School. Noah said she is “deeply invested” in the welfare and education of students.
“This referendum is not just about money and funding. It's about investing in the future of our children and the future of our communities,” Noah said. “By voting yes, we support important improvements, including enhanced safety measures across our facilities, building new elementary schools to accommodate growth, and renovating existing schools to provide appropriate learning environments. As educators, we see firsthand how the landscape of schools is changing.''But this referendum is not just for students, meeting the needs of children in outdated and underfunded facilities. It's for teachers who spend countless hours teaching. ”
Somerville Realtor Loni Haskell is the parent representative on the committee. She said she could not understand why no one would support this referendum.
“It was difficult for us to understand why someone would not support this vote,” she said. “Some people don't want to pay taxes, but people don't understand that taxes have to be covered somehow. And we're not raising tax rates. This referendum is a It's a continuation of the taxes that residents already pay. That's great. It's not an increase and the community won't feel financially constrained, so I understand why some people are against it. It's difficult to do. ”
Early voting for the No Tax Increase School Infrastructure Bond Referendum is available until Friday, May 10th at the Marcia O'Brien Conference Center, 200 Stadium Circle in Somerville. This is the only early voting location and is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Tuesday, May 14, the day of the special election, people will be able to vote at their regular polling places.
