I have been following the discussions, letters to the editor, and meeting reports with more than passing interest. That’s because, even though I live in Dover, my family will be affected by the outcome of the vote as much as the families who live in Whitingham and Wilmington.
Why? As I said above, we live in Dover, a town with school choice. Dover runs a K-6 school. After sixth grade, families can choose where to send their children. Exactly the kind of freedom some say Whitingham deserves. I’m not here to tell folks in Whitingham they should or should not have the choice. That’s their decision, and I can understand the allure.
What I don’t understand is why some in Whitingham would want to gut a very good school.
When it came time for my family to choose a middle school, out of all the options we had, we picked Twin Valley Middle School.
When we were looking at schools for our son, the staff at Twin Valley showed real interest in him as a student. They asked to see his work, talked with his sixth-grade teacher, and just seemed to care more than other middle schools. None of the other public schools we looked at showed anywhere near that kind of interest in our son as a student.
We also looked at some private schools, but my son was coming from a class of 11 students. He wanted a larger-school environment, with an opportunity to make new friends. That opportunity, coupled with his desire to play basketball, led us down the path toward schools with the critical mass to offer those things, as well as a quality education.
We were impressed with the interest shown by Twin Valley. We also like the manageable class sizes. One thing Twin Valley has going for it is the size of the middle school. The middle school grades have anywhere from 25 to 50 kids in them. In every other public school in the area, grades are at least double, and most triple that amount. We have Dover friends who send their kids to Brattleboro. One of those parents said her child “was just a number.”
Do Whitingham parents really want their kids to ride or drive 45 minutes to an hour away, just to slip through the cracks of a much larger school? It doesn’t make sense to me.
There has been discussion about offering more opportunity to Whitingham students: more educational programs, more sports choices, and more extracurricular opportunities.
Honestly, there’s plenty of opportunity right in your hometown, and you don’t have to ship kids an hour away to take advantage of them. Twin Valley makes every effort to include kids in sports, with travelling teams for all and no-cut policies. The Wings program offers so many after-school extra-curricular choices, it’s hard to decide which one to take advantage of.
Here’s another positive. Twin Valley Middle School is developing an online virtual high school program. It’s meant to offer advanced academics to students who are up to the challenge. It is a great opportunity for kids to expand their learning without ever having to leave their home base.
What was surprising, given that proponents of farming out Whitingham kids say more educational opportunity is one thing parents want, is that last week there was an information meeting about the VHS program and no families from Whitingham were there to find out about it. My wife came back from that meeting in amazement. I was stunned, given the alleged demand for more opportunity. Here’s one right here in town, and no one from Whitingham showed up to find out more about it. How strong can the demand really be?
There’s also the loss to the community if the middle school breaks up.
This past Friday evening I had the opportunity to help chaperone a Twin Valley Middle School dance. The energy was amazing. Kids from Whitingham mixing with kids from many of the surrounding towns. I recognized kids from Halifax, Wilmington, Dover, and Searsburg. My guess is there were kids from other towns as well. In any event, they were all having a great time.
Some of the people who want to withdraw from the Twin Valley alliance say they want greater opportunity for the kids of Whitingham. What could be better than having that kind of diversity right at home? Teens in Dover could never experience this type of event in their hometown. As a community for our teens, Dover is just too fractured. There are former classmates of my son who went off to different schools, and he never sees them anymore. Whitingham, on the other hand, has a school that draws kids from throughout the area. The hometown kids get to expand their social circles and make new friends, and keep their elementary school relationships intact.
Why would you want to drive this out of your community? A school is so much a reflection of the community. Right now, Twin Valley Middle School is a draw, something that brings people to Whitingham. It is an asset to the community, and on that should be cherished.
There are some other components to consider. The economic benefits of having a strong school system can’t be overlooked. My wife has commented that she has spent more money in the Jacksonville store this winter than anytime since she lived in Whitingham 18 years ago. I’ll bet that’s true for a lot of other families with kids in TVMS. Take that component out of town, and merchants will suffer.
There are plenty of issues other than school choice at play in this debate over Twin Valley. Most of them seem to center around money or mistrust. And, granted, the schools aren’t perfect. There are negative issues, as there are everywhere.
But in reality, we’re all neighbors, and we should continue to work together to make the Twin Valley schools better, stronger, and more of a draw.
Wouldn’t it be great to take the energy leading up to this vote and channel it for something positive, instead of pitting neighbor against neighbor and town against town?
I know I don’t have a vote on Wednesday, but I strongly encourage those who do to vote “no” to terminate the contract, and keep the Twin Valley district intact.
Randy Capitani is publisher of The Deerfield Valley News.
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