This letter is in reference to the recent vote in Winchester
regarding a petitioned article asking the voters if it is in the best
interest to send the students to Keene High School.
The voters said that it was not in the best interest to send the kids to Keene. That is the 374 voters who voted in the affirmative, out of the 4,100 residents in Winchester. This article is purely advisory. I believe the article stated the tuition increase being charged to Winchester from Keene and that certainly influenced the vote.
The voters said that it was not in the best interest to send the kids to Keene. That is the 374 voters who voted in the affirmative, out of the 4,100 residents in Winchester. This article is purely advisory. I believe the article stated the tuition increase being charged to Winchester from Keene and that certainly influenced the vote.
I recently contacted
Monadnock, and the tuition to send a student there is $16,400, and if
that student is special ed, it will cost $25,000 plus; if the IEP
requires a paraprofessional, that would be an additional cost.
The cost Keene is
charging is right in line with Monadnock. The article in the paper cited
poor communication and lack of information about the Winchester
students. If the Winchester School Board members would like information
from Keene, they should ask specific questions and allow the time to
receive the information.
As far as lack of
information on the students, ask the questions. It has been my
experience so far this year that my communication with Keene has been
great. I have been in contact with the guidance counselor, his
administrative assistant and a number of teachers. They emailed or spoke
to me with the accurate information in a timely manner with results.
I have found the teachers
to be willing to help, caring and very knowledgeable. The classes my
child is taking are challenging. I already had one child graduate from
Keene High School, one to graduate in 2018 and I have one child in the
Winchester School. I am very happy with the Winchester School and Keene
High School. I do not want to see the students go to another school.
Allow the parents and the students to voice their opinions and concerns,
if any, before there are any decisions made.
The majority of the
voters, 374, said it is not in the best interest, but that is not the
majority of the town of Winchester. Sending the students to Keene is in
the best interest of the town of Winchester.
Laura Aivaliotis
.Winchester
3 comments:
Yeah great for you and your kids that someone else pays for their education. Because we ship them off to Keene instead of having our own high school like we did when I went to school in town, my taxes have increased nearly 1000 dollars in the past few years paying for the education of kids I don't even have.
Yeah, it's real great. These other schools charge way to much and when there is a surplus in their budgets they don't give it back they use it to offset Keenes taxes.
So now you blame this outcome on the people who took the time to vote instead of on those lazy, I don't care about anything, people that didn't go to the poles? People in this town don't seem to care one way or the other what happens here and until more take an interest this is what the end results will be time and again. Write another letter but instead of it being about how great it is to be taxed to death sending our kids out of town for their education, ask that Keene start up adult classes to educate people about how to vote and why they should. That I wouldn't mind paying for. Like the person above, I'm sick of all these constant tax hikes for the school and town and for what, I see no difference from one year to the next.
If you see a Winchester Keene High student, ask them if they would prefer a Winchester High school. I have asked and they ALL say, leave us in Keene, Its a great education. I think our towns education budget could be better, but with the teachers, friends and family being the voting majority, I don't see a change in the near future.
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