Council should fulfill duty on Young School

Providing education in a venue that was intended to be a temporary fix (13 years ago) is less than ideal, and frankly embarrassing. It’s time that the citizens of Saco provide what every child deserves: an optimal place to learn.

The School Construction Committee worked diligently for over two years assessing the needs of all of the schools in our community, and the options for addressing these needs. Based on the feedback from the Committee as well as the public, the School Board determined that the public deserved to vote on funding the construction of a new Young School.

Unfortunately, this decision, now at the City Council level, has hit a stalemate.

It appears that our councilors do not feel that the public deserves the opportunity to vote on this important issue. Might I remind them that these are the citizens that voted them into office and expect them to fulfill their oath to serve them, which includes letting the public vote on items that dictate how the city moves forward.

One of the councilors indicated that ALL of the councilors agree that replacing Young School would be “an unnecessary burden on Saco taxpayers” and that “Young School is not in disrepair and currently has NO issues.” If you have visited Young School during the school day, you know this is not the case.

I have also been told that it would be in the best interest of the city to wait for the list for state-funded school repairs/replacement to reopen. The list has been closed for years, and in the event that it does reopen and Young School makes the list, we are not guaranteed that the state would fund the new construction of the school. In the event that it did, the timeline could be upwards of 10 years, which would put Young School in excess of 15 years over its intended useful life.

It is possible, given the payoff of significant bond debt in the coming few years, that despite taking on a ~$25 million bond to fund a new Young School and providing necessary improvements at Fairfield School, that taxes may not increase, as the net effect of taking on the new debt and the debt coming off the books would essentially be a wash.

I implore the councilors to give the public the opportunity to decide what is best for this city. In the meantime, please remember our young citizens at Young School, who are doing their very best to learn in a sub-par physical environment.

Our impressive Young School staff will continue to provide the best education possible despite these conditions, but why wouldn’t we want to help them provide the best for our students? If we want our children to develop to their highest potential, and into productive and successful citizens, we need to provide them the best venue to do so.

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