Prudence Island residents want schoolhouse spared
PORTSMOUTH - Raymond Masse knows what it's like to take
the ferry every morning from Prudence Island to attend school on the mainland.
He started doing it as a sixth-grader in the 1980s.
"It was a horrible experience from a sixth-grade point of view," he told the
School Committee Tuesday night.
So the Portsmouth resident and
father of two, who now summers on Prudence Island, has strong feelings about
closing the Prudence Island School and sending children to classes on the
mainland.
"They don't get on a bus without a bus monitor but we're going to put them on a
ferry without a monitor," he said.
Masse was joined at Tuesday's meeting by about 15 Prudence Island residents who
braved the stormy weather to show their support for the island's one-room
schoolhouse.
The committee has yet to take a position on the school's future, but school
officials are exploring the possibility of closing the school next year as a way
to save money in what already appears to be a tight budget.
The cost to run the school - which has an enrollment of four - is between
$160,000 and $200,000 a year, according to figures provided by School
Superintendent Timothy P. Ryan.
"I want to make it clear, there is no recommendation tonight. There is no vote,"
Ryan said at the onset of the discussion.
Committee member Sylvia Wedge, who heads the finance subcommittee, also
confirmed that her group has yet to address the matter.
But Ryan said the School Department has struggled with program cuts during the
past few years and "this year is going to be no exception."
"It is a special place but there are serious budget issues to address," he said.
As such, he said the School Department has several options to consider. They
include keeping the school open regardless of enrollment levels, evaluating the
school's status on a year-by-year basis, or closing the school and assigning
those students to Melville School.
A decision to close the school would force the island's students to board the
ferry each school day at 6:25 a.m.
Robert Marshall, a Prudence Island resident whose two children attended the
Prudence Island School when they were younger, said he would have serious
concerns about sending elementary-age students on a ferry unescorted by parents.
Sudden changes in the weather later in the day could leave such youngsters
stranded on the mainland overnight, he said.
"Asking a middle-schooler to deal with that makes them grow up quick ...," he
said. (But) if I was a fourth-grader, I would not want to worry about where I
was going to go."
Marshall questioned the range of figures he's seen mentioned for the cost of
operating the schoolhouse. He said the figures are not an accurate reflection of
the real cost of operating the schoolhouse, as they also include the
transportation costs associated with getting older Prudence Island students on
and off the island to attend the middle school and high school.
Marshall also questioned the soundness of requiring elementary students to board
a 6:25 a.m. ferry to get to Melville School for the 8:30 start of school.
"They are, at that point, two hours into the day when school starts," he said.
School officials have until March 25 to submit their proposed budget for the
2005-06 school year to the Town Council.
Last year, school officials ended up eliminating the district's
gifted-and-talented education program and the middle school sports and
after-school programs during budget debates. The middle school programs,
however, were later restored.
**Provided By The Newport Daily News