School change could be circular

While it may seem that as a rule the Northwest Corner of Connecticut is one place that keeps change at bay, change is happening around us and, as is always the actual rule with any society, it will be our ability to adapt to and take some control of that change which will define our success as a region in the years to come.

The Housatonic Heritage Area initiative has been one successful approach to gathering financial support to control the area’s change. Another segment of our society that needs attention, and sooner rather than later, is our school system.

Schools in Region One are facing a significant decline in student population. It is therefore inevitable that the Region One administration will need to consider the necessity for some measure of downsizing. This is not the first time in the school system’s history this has been necessary.

Before the region was formed, there were small, neighborhood schoolhouses scattered throughout the Northwest Corner towns, and there are people still walking our streets who attended them. But, in order for the schools to have the extended facilities and programs demanded by modern life, those schools had to change and consolidate. Busing came in, replacing the walks to school by youngsters who, in later years, as adults, told their families about their "long walks uphill both ways through the snow, sleet and rain" (sound familiar?).

So, will history repeat itself? Extended busing, transporting students from smaller, diminishing schools in the region to the larger schools a few miles away, may be an answer to the shrinking pupil population. This will be up to the educational experts and towns to decide, but in the meantime, it’s worthwhile to take a look at our present school buildings and their histories in order to gain some perspective.

At Salisbury Central School, the administration and Board of Education have already discussed closing the plant’s lower building, which was originally Lakeville High School, preserved when the new upper building was added in the 1950s. Next week we plan to run a story by Terry Cowgill taking a look at the upper building’s design (by an eminent American architect) and construction.

As the need for change confronts Region One again, we shouldn’t forget the history which provided the base for the region’s commitment to quality education for our children.

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