[for the complete saga read:]
Part I The Surprise Vote; click here
Part II The Town goes to Court and the Children Rally; click here
Part III But Was There a Vote? The Facts; click here
Part IV Surry Defends Its School & Children click here
THE BACKGROUND
Surry, New Hampshire (pop. 673, per 2000 census), saved to build
its little elementary school following World War II, when most
NH small towns had difficulty finding teachers. The new school
consolidated one-room schoolhouses. In 1960, to assure high school
space for Surry students, the town joined the newly-forming Monadnock
Cooperative School District, comprised of several small towns
north and south of the city of Keene.All was well for 40+ years
until Surry heard that the Monadnock School Board planned to
close their little school.
February 2, 2006
After meeting weekly since August, the folks in Surry who wanted
to take back their school have a plan! They have decided to re-open
a village school as a school of choice. They submitted a charter
school application in January 2006 to New Hampshire’s State Board
of Education. With a choice school, parents who want their children
in the larger system school with a long bus ride can still make
that choice. Most parents want their children back in Surry.
The plan is for a K-8 school. Last year the school was K-6.
Creating a non-profit--"The Alliance for Rural School and
Village Preservation (RSVP)"--this fifty-family group is moving
forward to bring their children home. The group hopes to reclaim
the school building in Surry built by Surry for Surry children.
The community plans to fund the school's expansion through fundraising,
donations, and volunteer labor.
What started out as a smaller group of concerned parents and residents
from Surry, over time drew in parents and residents from neighboring
towns. Once the synergy started about a high-standards, old-fashioned
K-8 village school, people came from far and wide (over hill and
dale, literally) to join the planning effort. When both parents
wanted to attend meetings, older children watched younger children
from the second story of Surry’s historic town hall. Even though
the school has not been approved, already people worry there won’t
be enough room for all the children whose parents want them to
attend. A waiting list before the school opens...!!!
The Surry Village Charter School proposal gives back to Surry
what was lost by the abrupt school closing without the promised
year's notice. People felt they had lost local control of their
children's education and their sense of community. It will take
the whole village to bring THIS charter proposal to life, because
the village school theme is the spirit of community--bringing local
adults and their respective talents into the school. Children attending
will be introduced to such timeless skills as gardening, orienteering,
nature studies, storytelling, canning, weaving, woodworking and
even sugaring (for those of you reading from outside New England,
sugaring means Maple Syrup).
The Surry Village Charter School has been designed to embrace
village life, cultural values, and the community spirit of small
New England towns while assuring the students have a competitive
academic program. And should this proposal be approved, Surry will
again have its village public school. When the charter school is
reviewed by the State Board of Education in March, they will either
deny the request, ask for more information, or approve the Surry
Village Charter School. And so the next chapter in this saga will
either be: Scurry and Worry, or Hurry to Surry. Stay tuned.
Readers who want to support or become involved in the Surry Village
Charter School effort are free to contact Nicole Conroy at: SurryCharterSchool@yahoo.com
(603-352-3080)
To hear a recorded WKXL1450 radio broadcast about the Surry School,
click here.
Editor's Note: Readers have contacted us, advising that we overstated
the distance Surry children are now traveling to the two schools
they are being bussed in other towns. And then other readers say
we were right. I just want to say that Surry is rural and beautiful.
I haven't officially checked any bus travel times. But it takes
time to drive from town to town on these country roads. You can't
always pass with single lanes. Apparently if the weather is bad,
busses must travel around a different side of Surry Mountain through
Keene, making the ride well over an hour. And, depending on where
you live in Surry and how many stops there are, the new school
ride out of town, according to parents, isn't much less than an
hour for most children.
We welcome your comments
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