The views stated here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the staff of this newspaper.
(Feb. 8, 2019 ) — There has been a lot of concerned residents expressing their displeasure at the proposed closing of HES, Haddam Elementary School, in Higganum. And recently I have seen a couple of articles about “Swan Hill” in Higganum. The writers seem to want to use it as another reason to save HES. Please don’t we already have enough public land that’s off the tax rolls in Haddam ?
I feel the BOE, Board of Education, has done a responsible job of evaluating the trend toward reduced enrollment and the budget pressure being put upon them by the State government. It should be no mystery to anyone that the State is in deep financial doo doo. With the Democrats still in charge I foresee even more pressure being put upon the rural towns to give up school assistance in favor of the big cities of New Haven, Bridgeport, Hartford, etc. The BOE is also under pressure to raise the budget because of increased salaries and benefits, special education needs, as well as long overdue capital improvements, e.g. high school.
So I feel the residents have a choice here, either shed the HES facility as a way to save cost that can be applied to the other needs mentioned above, or save the school and look forward to a big tax increase. I for one feel the responsible choice is to shed the school!
Sincerely, R. Thurston Clark
Haddam Neck
