The petition
To: Dr. Keefe, Superintendent of Schools
Natick, MA
From: Natick Elementary School Famiies
We want to be sure that you are aware of our concern regarding the potential increase in classroom size in our elementary schools. We are very involved in the dynamics of our children's classrooms and we feel that a 30% increase in the number of students per class would have a significantly negative impact on their achievement. We understand and appreciate that our children have been able to succeed in previous years because of the very manageable classroom sizes in the Natick Elementary Schools. We want to maintain that excellent standard.
When you came to the Brown School PTO meeting on 2/5/2008, you spoke about the fiscal issues involving the Natick Schools. You spoke of rising healthcare premiums, energy costs and inflation costs for supplies, etc. You also spoke about the override. You were posed with the following question:
"If the override fails, the school district will need to reduce the school budget by 1.7 million. What services will be dropped and what will the impact be?"
Your response was the following:
"Value judgments will need to be made with regard to the budget. A proposal has been made and the reallocation of resources includes an increase in bus and sports fees, a reduction in certain line items in the administration's budget, and reduction in force. The goal is to keep cuts out of the classroom as much as possible."
Dr. Keefe, when you asked us to support, campaign, and vote for the override, you certainly led us to believe that if the override passed the schools would remain intact. We fought for the override with that belief. Increasing the class size is certainly not what we consider "intact".
We want to thank you for your attention to this matter. We know that it is not an easy decision. However, our main priority should be the level of education our children are receiving.
Thank you.
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