[box]The following message was paid for by the North Haven Democratic Town Committee[/box]
North Haven’s Middle School has urgent problems. In the 50 plus years since it was built, it was never rehabilitated or modernized to address the current needs of our children. Concerns over the school were confirmed in a 2013 report by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (the organization that accredits our schools). This report states that the school is “out of date and minimally adequate” with numerous problems including significant roof leaks, air quality issues and inadequate power.
This is not the environment we want our children to learn in.
On June 17th, you have the ability to fix the school! You can give the children of our town a middle school they – and you – can be proud of.
The time to act is now.
Voting “Yes” in the June 17th Referendum will allow the Town to apply for substantial funding from the state for the project, and will allow a modern Middle School to be ready for students in 2017. While the ballot question asks you to approve up to $69.5 million in funding for the school and some athletic fields, if it passes next week, the Town will be on target for nearly $20 million in state funds (almost 1/3 of the project cost!). But if the Town’s voters do not approve the Middle School before the State’s June 30, 2014 deadline, state funding is potentially lost – and cannot even be applied for until next June.
Don’t assume that your vote isn’t needed because plenty of other people will be voting to make this project pass. EVERY VOTE COUNTS and YOUR VOTE IS CRITICAL! Every student sitting in a North Haven elementary school classroom today and in the years ahead is counting on you.
In 2002, the North Haven High School construction project passed by less than 3% of the town’s total registered voters! Voting is easy, takes minutes and YOUR VOTE WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE in the success of the project!
Remember, there is one polling place on June 17 – the Rec Center at 7 Linsley Street.
If you will be out of town or can’t make it to the Rec Center on Election Day, please go to the Town Clerk’s Office at 18 Church Street IMMEDIATELY and request an absentee ballot. You can call the Town Clerk for more information at 203-239-5321 ext 630.
Learn more at the North Haven Middle School Project website. If you have other questions or would like to show your support with a lawn sign, email Walt Spader.