Lou Weinberg is chair of the Westport Community Gardens, and director of the Long Lots Preserve. He writes:
To the parents and teachers (and kids!) at Long Lots Elementary School, and to the rest of our fine community:
I believe it is time to move on, and build a new school at Long Lots without any further delay.
I am a recently retired, former public school teacher. I understand the value of education. I spent 2 decades promoting that philosophy to a couple of thousand students.
Lou Weinberg spent 2 decades in front of a classroom. Not long ago, he addressed the Westport Rotary Club.
I loved teaching, and I think I was pretty darned good at it. That’s what my students and most of their parents have told me. I’ve had a mutually positive relationship with the vast majority of kids I have shared a classroom with.
I worked in a school that had constant leaks, mold, and no air conditioning on the second floor, under a black tar flat roof.
Broken floor tiles were a constant issue. Bathroom sinks and urinals leaked. Concrete stairways outside the school were severely dilapidated. The list is a lot longer, but you get the picture.
I want you to hear this from me.
I firmly believe that a new school is severely needed at Long Lots. I know it should be done as expeditiously and as economically as possible.
I want the children in this town to have the best education, from the best teachers, that they possibly can. No doubt that is currently the case, and will be the case, for as long as there are schools in this district.
I am blown away by elementary school teachers, who serve many different bosses (including the little ones in the classroom) every single day, fielding hundreds of different requests, problems and issues, while preparing and delivering instruction on several different subjects, in several different ways. I know it helps exponentially to have the right environment in which to perfect their craft.
I completely understand the needs of students served by Stepping Stones too. I have had hundreds of students in my career with different and special needs, requiring differentiated instruction and a whole lot of love. Places like Stepping Stones are worth their weight in gold to the students they serve, their parents and ultimately, to the community they live in.
The original Long Lots Junior High School opened in the mid-1950s.
Of course I have advocated for preserving and protecting the Westport Community Gardens, the Long Lots Preserve, and the green open space adjacent to the school.
My advocacy has never been about opposing the creation of a new school. I believe that the school construction should have begun already, and that the process should have included consideration for the gardens and preserve.
Unfortunately, it did not.
This statement should not be taken to mean that I and the many people in town who support having a community garden, preserve and green open space are giving up on our request that an equitable site for a new garden be found.
I have the utmost confidence in Paul Leibowitz, and the rest of the Planning & Zoning Commission’s thoughtful and diligent work on this issue. They will render a decision, and we will all move forward.
I believe it is time to move on and build a new school at Long Lots without any further delay.
Thank you for reading this.
(“06880″‘s Opinion pages are open to all Email submissions to 06880blog@gmail.com.)
Honest/Thoughtful/Well-written
Lou – could not agree more. Long Lots should have been re-built a decade ago! There can be no further delays. I am also confident that there will be a great new garden built within a short period of time. Lou – thanks for providing great leadership to this community!
Lou, thanks for writing this!
There’s going to be a parade in DC and tax payers money will be spent at a ridiculous rate. It’ll cost 50 million for probably 10 hours. That’s a waste of money! Spending 110,000 million to build a new school and not 50 million to fix it up is a waste of taxpayers money too! Just think about what could be done in town with the money saved. The problems you outlined were significant ( no air conditioning, etc) but 50 million dollars can fix them! Just think what the parade’s 50 million could do by not having a Kim Jung Un- ish parade. Hire back laid off workers maybe? Your problems can be solved by spending only 50 million!! Sorry Lou, but I can’t justify this expensive price.
And to Robert Harrington I say, if it should have been torn down ten years ago, that means kids were educated in that building for 10 years. It also means you would have torn down a building that was built 62 years ago and upgraded one time already. Kids were taught in a school that should have been demolished 10 years ago. Maybe it should have been fixed ten years ago.
As a Long Lots parent and community member, I really appreciate this, Lou. Thank you. These teachers and children need and deserve a fit learning environment as soon as possible.
Great letter— your advocacy has been terrific. Thank you for all you have done.
Phyllis Nova
Lou, ready to help you build a new community gardens, Personally
I feell Barons South could serve all involved in perpetuity. I picture the sloped terraces of southern Europe.
When your’re ready….. im sure you will reach out.
Hey Robbie. Thank you for the offer. No doubt you will step up if asked. You have done it before. You were the first one to step up with machinery when we began Phase 1 of the Long Lots Preserve, which is now slated for destruction in the new 8-24 on tonight’s Planning And Zoning Commission agenda.
I regret that the hour long conversation we recently had
about the unsuitability of Barons South as a location for a new garden seems to have been forgotten. Thanks for your offer to help, though. If the town finds the garden a new home in an appropriate location I’ll be sure to reach out.
The sad part to all of this ill conceived & perceived divide between the new school and community garden could have been avoided if the administration & over reaching building committee had been upfront about the fate of the garden. If the administration had come to the community garden steering committee from the start vs as Jen Fava, stated in an email to the administration, “oops I guess they found out”, I’m certain there would have been a better solution than a community divided.
Absolutely Susan, this could have all been avoided with transparency and less wool being pulled over peoples eyes.
The relocation of a private garden which proudly boasts that is for “Plot Holders and Guests ONLY No Trespassing” adjacent to a greatly needed public school that educates 550+ children should never be part of the same conversation. To suggest otherwise is absurd. Approval for a replacement garden should not be tied to approval for a public school for children. To suggest otherwise is plainly selfish as those with a conscious have rightly pointed out.
Westport’s Community Garden is (was) a program offered under the Department of Parks and Recreation. Signage restricting access was in place because that was one of the stipulations required by the town when the gardens were set up.