OPINION - "What we are left with is this..."

Medfield MA

29 August, 2021

1:02 PM

Description

OPINION: Submitted by Medfield Resident What we are left with is this... "Because of the pandemic, what should have been a two-way give and take between the SBC and interested townspeople instead turned into an echo chamber in which the town's opinion was never heard… or sought. Zoom is partially to blame, but vocal and persuasive SBC members who could only perceive of a 'blank-slate' solution and so downplayed a new school at Dale Street; never giving it serious – much less equal – consideration. They presented their preference as a fait accompli and expected the people of Medfield to quickly fall in line. I cannot fathom what went through the minds of SBC members as hundreds of 'Dale@Dale' signs appeared around town. I cannot comprehend why, when social media lit up with valid explanations for the rationale behind those signs, no member of the SBC contacted like-minded members and said, 'we need to reconsider this before it goes to a vote.' I especially cannot fathom why, after passage of the 'reconsider your choice' article at the ATM, any SBC on the fence did not demand the Committee call off the special ATM and take the funding question off the November ballot. Then, go back over every assumption and determine if the Dale@Dale solution would deliver as good a solution as a Wheelock campus. The truth of the matter is this: a perfectly acceptable school can be built at Dale Street. Along with a new school, the Dale site offers tangible and intangible benefits Wheelock lacks, chief among them the ability of a sizeable percentage of the student body to walk or bike to school rather than ride a bus. The other intangible that no one on the Wheelock side of the argument seems willing to address is the inevitable end of the Elm Street corridor as a tangible link to Medfield's history (it will be widened, straightened, given a 'proper' bridge, and sidewalks/bike lanes added in the name of child safety). There is still time. Call off the ATM. Take the funding off the November ballot. LISTEN to town residents and why they are so adamant about a Dale@Dale location. I write this with no 'dog in this hunt'; no children in school and no link to anyone who stands to gain from one site or the other." Neal Sanders Pine Street, Medfield