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.)