The Barrington School District is doing a great job attempting to inform residents of the largest spending decision in the history of the town. It happens a month from now. Hopefully people are …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
Please log in to continue |
Register to post eventsIf you'd like to post an event to our calendar, you can create a free account by clicking here. Note that free accounts do not have access to our subscriber-only content. |
Are you a day pass subscriber who needs to log in? Click here to continue.
The Barrington School District is doing a great job attempting to inform residents of the largest spending decision in the history of the town. It happens a month from now. Hopefully people are paying attention.
While past school committees have been criticized for a communication stream that was confusing, inconsistent, dense and at times shrouded, this group is setting a high standard. They’ve launched a series of workshops, widely advertised and highly visible. Though sparsely attended, a recent meeting was well run, informative, easy to follow and fully transparent.
The district created an entirely new website — barringtonschoolsproject.com — rich with materials for the enthusiastic parent or the doubting taxpayer. There are believable explanations of the school facility needs, details on potential timelines, a tax impact calculator (coming soon), artist and architectural renderings, reports, research, a schedule for upcoming meetings and more. Everyone living here, whether they care about their children, their property values, their cost of living or the future of education, should take the time to review the site. It is well organized and easy to navigate.
School committee leaders seem informed, knowledgable and in full command of the materials, creating an atmosphere of credibility as they stump for a $250 million investment in the town’s schools. School Building Committee Chairman TJ Peck was superb while leading last week’s public forum. He and Barrington School Committee Chairman Patrick McCrann clearly know the material well and have invested a lot of time in the process and the outcome.
The consulting team also seems to know its stuff. Their presentation materials are simple, clear, easy to follow — not an easy task in the field of public education, or in $250 million spending plans.
We have not yet digested all the materials or asked all the questions to reach our own conclusion about this plan. However, we are fully committed to doing so in the next month, and we hope the majority of potential voters will, too.
The school department seems to be doing all it can to inform people. Hopefully Barrington residents will reward their efforts.