Johnson Should Close — But Equity, Timing Are Key: Opinion

The following is a submitted opinion article and does not reflect the views of Natick Patch

As Johnson Elementary School dads who have committed their life’s work to educational equity, it breaks our hearts to say: Johnson School should close.

As a town, we should never have let this facility, serving one of the most economically diverse neighborhoods in Natick, deteriorate. Equity has long called for an upgraded school facility for this neighborhood, but we didn’t act on those calls. Financially unwise to now renovate the existing Johnson facility, we believe the school should be put on a path to closure.

The path, though, should be guided by equity.

Equity demands that we seriously consider a larger, economically diverse downtown school — for one of the most economically diverse neighborhoods in town — before we rebuild a school in a neighborhood which doesn't have that demographic. It also demands a serious exploration of the implications of moving forward with four crowded elementary schools, including those that already have a significant number of economically disadvantaged students.

We, as a community, should be having that equity conversation about a larger downtown elementary school before the School Committee votes to almost entirely eliminate this option. We have not had that equity conversation to date.

We propose, instead, the School Committee votes to identify the Johnson facility in its MSBA application, while also including a clause that this decision is time-bound and would result in a Johnson closure if our MSBA application is unsuccessful after three tries. This approach is not intended to save Johnson. It simply brings the option of a larger downtown school — with the most possible locations for that downtown school - forward for a longer community debate, even if the Committee ultimately decides to rebuild at Memorial.

In closing, we didn’t listen to the cries of equity for many years with Johnson. We have a chance now.

—Matt Welch, Matt Brunell, Natick