For those of you who don’t know or might benefit from a reminder, Saint Mary’s Elementary was put up for review last spring. This means that the Board decided it wanted to close Saint Mary’s, notified the school community of that, and set in motion a review process that has spanned the summer and will continue to unfold during the school year. School closure, if it were to occur, would happen at the end of June 2009. The Saint Mary’s Study Committee, a group of community members, will be submitting our response to the Board on November 30, 2008. The Board will then go about the business of considering our response and announce on March 30 of next year whether or not the school will be closed.
It’s a multi-faceted effort and we’ve been moving ahead on all fronts. Researching, gathering support, planning the publicity. The committee working on the response has been meeting throughout the summer, developing its arguments, and now we want to present it to the public.
There will be a meeting on Monday, September 15, 6:30pm. You’ll hear what we’ve come up with and have an opportunity to respond. It will be the first of many opportunities. Between now and the end of November we want, need and encourage as much feedback and input from the public, in particular the Saint Mary’s community, as possible.
Everything’s on the line in this review. It would be a good time to give whatever you’ve got in the way of support. We can give you some ideas as to the form that support might take but feel free to jump in with your own.
Cindy Littlefair
Co-Chair with Michele Gerard
Saint Mary’s Study Committee