LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Ideas on How to Improve Sudbury's School System

Sudbury public schools will continue to face a number of challenges over the next few years. We need to face these challenges together to keep improving our schools.  I am committed to working with everyone to strengthen our community as we celebrate the town’s 375th anniversary in 2014. Let’s start the process of meaningful dialogue, mutual respect, and find real change and improvement in our town.

First, additional representative democracy will help heal our community and bring people together by giving more residents a voice in our discussions. This is why I am I favor of moving from 3 to 5 selectman. My focus will always be on our schools, but effective collaboration between our two school committees and all our town boards will only enhance our schools and make our town even stronger.

Second, I propose that both our School Committee’s and the Town Selectmen and the Town of Lincoln form a new joint-panel to explore the possibility of K-12 regionalization or other consolidation options. Now is the time to explore regionalization’s potential cost savings and academic benefits.  And until such time as we have one school district, we must seek shared cost-saving opportunities utilizing greater collaboration between our two school districts to improve on the quality of all of our schools

Finally, it is critical that we create a master plan to address the technological needs of our schools. We must seek out even more creative methods for our children to learn and utilize technology in a cost-effective manner to stay competitive and improve on the delivery of education in our schools.

Thank you.  

Sincerely,

Matthew Barach

Candidate for Sudbury Public Schools Committee