Milford High School Merger Considered

Some years ago, I wrote an article here on this blog discussing the merger of the two High Schools. This discussion was at a time when few saw that our student population was in a sustainable decline. This decline has now arrived and a Long Range Planning Committee has taken it to task. Milford Patch has been the local sounding board for numerous objections, conclusions, and criticisms of ideas proposals and suggestions they have thus far put forward, none-the-less the issues of limited resources, and financial strains are are the forefront of how to get the best result for Milford's future pupils.

Thus far it has become very clear that Milford has its share of critics, including Mr. Chaucer who is yet again on record objecting to the High School merger and leading the opposition at town hall meetings where he is very clear about his opinions. This issue was on record some years ago, at the link below I have documented Mr. Chaucers concerns as I have my own.

There is no doubt that our kids deserve a world class school, and there is no doubt in my mind that big changes are on their way in the not so distant future. These changes are just as I predicted they would arrive and no I did not read into the "Tea Leaves" to arrive at my conclusions as so many of my liberal critics would allege.

The answer to the present situation, and its associated future trends is rooted in Game Theory, whereby you look to important factors like school age kids born today, the state of the local economy, the mill rate, the financial obligations of the city, the condition of the present schools, and the assumption that our city planners make decisions that save money, serve the interest of the department of Education and yes you have a pretty solid idea that our schools are in for a big change like or not.

Regardless of what is decided, the only concern I have at the moment is that more adults than kids are involved in the open meetings of this long range planning committee. With the schools impacting the daily lives of our towns teenagers more so than their parents I grow weary that their input is not complete or capable of delivering a well rounded discussion with intelligent and viable solutions. Hopefully school board members will reach out to the Kids for their thoughts and ideas on their education future in Milford. This is the type of approach I would like to see happen if we are serious about coming up with a well rounded solution that as few people as possible will object to,

For now, however it is pretty clear that we are not going to satisfy everyone, and the ongoing debate and challenges are healthy regardless of what I personally believe. It is my hope that this long Range Planning Committee will be successful in its endeavors and our school system will emerge stronger and better despite the confusion and added complication of yet another controversial Bill Gates program called Common Core at the center of its deployment objectives.

The following article below is my position on Chaucer's thoughts back then, and they still stand today now that this committee is tasked to address some long overdue education restructuring concerns.

http://ronpaultv.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-reply-to-tim-chaucer-leading-high.html