To the editor:

As a parent and concerned resident of Westport, I am urging all Westport voters - especially parents - to attend the upcoming town meeting that is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5.  If you don't already know, we will be voting on a critical step in our journey to improve the schools where our children learn. We will be voting to approve $700,000 for a feasibility study which will help to determine the needs of the town in regards to school configuration for the future.

Without this study we will not receive any state funding to help defray the cost of any new school or school improvements - this study is a required step in the process of obtaining state funding to help improve not only the schools where our children learn but also the town as a whole!  Please vote yes on Article 6 on May 5!

In the fall, our students will no longer attend the middle school. The EPA has mandated that the town address the PCB issues at the school in order to continue using the building. Instead the decision was made to close the school and move the 2nd grade to the Macomber School where they will attend classes in trailers, the 5th and 6th graders will move to the Elementary School and the 7th and 8th graders will move to the High School.  This configuration can not and should not be a permanent solution to this ever growing problem. This feasibility study will help determine what as a town we need to do to resolve this problem.

We need to invest in our students and their future. The buildings they are learning in are old and in need of repair, renovation and, in the case of the middle school, replacement.  This study is the first step to determine how we as a town need to proceed.  I urge every parent to vote and make your voices heard.  If every parent voted at town meeting we would win hands down, if even one parent from each household would vote at town meeting we would also win. Please consider attending this very important meeting.

Rebecca Krzyszton

Westport