Got Juice...?

Last week, Harwich High School principal Kevin Turner and I attended a meeting of the newly- formed Harwich-Chatham Regionalization Committee where we discussed the relative strengths of our respective schools, the problems faced by small schools with declining enrollments and, more importantly, what a merger of the two schools would look like should that occur. I think we did a pretty good job of identifying the benefits that would result from regionalization. However, we are aware that there is a long road ahead with many obstacles to overcome. That will be the task of the new committee. For our part, we appreciate being asked for our input and have both enjoyed the discussions we have had over the past few months because it is exciting to develop a vision for a new school and dream about how we might be able to improve teaching and learning and increase opportunities for our students.

Apparently that excitement was apparent to reporter Alan Pollack who, in his article in the Chronicle described us as "juiced up." (http://www.capecodchronicle.com/chatnews/chat111209_3.htm) I am not sure I would go that far, however given the potentially dire consequences of doing nothing in the face of clear demographic data, declining enrollments, and increasing costs, the alternative does inspire some sense of optimism. That evening we spoke at length about capacity, sustainability, and viability and how regionalization, in our view, would affect those issues. It is clear that before too long we, both Harwich and Chatham, will need to take some action to ensure that we both can continue to provide quality educational opportunities for our students. That, as we said several times during our presentation, is the ultimate "bottom line." Ultimately, it will be up to the citizens of both towns to decide whether to regionalize or not. However, any action that is taken should be governed by how that decision positively impacts our children. Now that is something I can really get "juiced up" about!