By Philippe Thibault – 9-26
From the mouths of babes can come words of wisdom. Children possessing the purest of thoughts, without deception, can use their limited vocabulary with a surgeon’s precision. Decades ago, when my son was around five years old, he asked me if we could do a particular activity.
To be honest I have long forgotten the activity within the request, I suppose at that moment it was not momentous enough to be remembered. My lesson was nearly earth moving. I responded to his gentle and innocuous request with a “We’ll see.” His response was not rude or angry, but more disappointed, “well that means no.”
That comment struck me as odd since I did not say no. He returned to me to explain that when he or his brother had asked me comparable questions, and I responded as I had, the plans would never come to fruition.
Effectively the outcome was no, without providing explanation or taking a responsible stand to the request, I shut the door. I really don’t remember what he wanted to do. I do remember that from that point forward I needed to provide him more definitive reasoning with my response if the future was unclear.
Somehow that young man nearly thirty years ago had a far better comprehension and understanding that many adults today. Okay, an election was held in Dracut to see if there was support for a debt exclusion for a new school project. “No means No”!
Those voters may have well said “we’ll see” with the insubstantial justifications they provided. It is not the right time, it is too expensive, it is too fancy, there are too many windows, the site is too remote, ad infinitum. There are those who plainly said no and it was no to any form of a new school or repairs of the old.
There is little to compromise with or negotiate in that. Claims of the elderly not being able to afford a debt exclusion, but there are no proposals to make the town more affordable for our elderly population.
The proponents of the school project provided reasoning and evidence to the need of a school. You can make an adverse claim, but there needs to be reasoned explanation of similar weight to counter the discussion. Other than that, the argument is an exercise in contrarianism.
Is it too much to ask for further definition to the NO vote? When is the right time? Where should the school be located? How many windows should the gymnasium have? Would T-111 plywood siding be inexpensive enough to deem an approval.
They do not want to say what will be acceptable because they do not want to accept a new school. My objection to this delay tactic is within the natural order of all things. We either thrive or wither. We cannot prolonged stay balanced between the two.
The no vote is then just an opportunist procrastination and without dialogue to explain the negative response the procrastination becomes obfuscation. I suspect the reason is more political than most would like to let on. The Town of Dracut has a long history of being bifurcated between politics and education.
These tensions may have been subsiding over the past few years, but old habits die hard and behavior does not lie. Our politicians argue for what they value most.
In Dracut politics always seem to trump education. Why should a town proud of political bloodsport see education as anything but a sign of weakness? There is certainly no reward for the thinker.
Dr. Duda presented a possible alternate proposal to the Select Board and the Townspeople at the last Select Board meeting. While receiving some accolades for thinking about the Campbell School Project as a global townwide opportunity to foster education and economic development with the redistribution of town assets, she was derided as too late to the party and “No means No”.
Now the opposition is gearing up to deny any capital repairs to any of the schools. The Campbell School does not have so much of a roof as it does a rubber quilt. The boilers are antiquated and parts are no longer available.
The school is not compliant with ADA and building code regulations nor up to date with standard security and safety protocols. All this is negligible as long as our students do not believe they deserve more than the last generation. Sure, this current generation is spoiled.
I have heard that said of every generation and I hear the young parents today saying that of their children. You know one thing I do not hear much of anymore, “pass it forward”. Is being spoiled the opportunity to succeed on the shoulders of giants? My parents did not think so, nor did their parents.
I am not hopeful there will be much participation in the physical structures or tools of education in Dracut. It really saddens me to reach this mindset. I hope things will change.
We’ll see. ◊