Two former Tisbury School students, now students at MVRHS, have produced a five-minute video on the need for a new school.
The video has been released as the school building committee is about to make its case to voters for a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion at the upcoming April 10 town meeting. The project also needs support at the polls April 24.
The video was produced by Richie Bartlett and Ben McMahon, and uses Schools Superintendent Matt D’Andrea to narrate. Two teachers, Tamzin Partridge and Anne Williamson, are also featured in the video.
“There are a number of benefits that the new Tisbury School will provide to students and staff,” D’Andrea says. They include breakout areas for small group instruction that will benefit special education and English language learning students, he said. A larger cafeteria will allow for fewer lunch periods, and the school will have improved technology, D’Andrea said.
“One of the main benefits is going to be more space for students. Right now I share a classroom with a special ed teacher,” Partridge says in the video. “It’s very distracting, especially with the nature of some of the needs of those students who share that space all that time.”
D’Andrea says in the video that the process has been inclusive, with the community, even students, involved in making choices about the new school. “It’s been fun to think about the opportunity that this project brings to the students,” he said. “It’s been fun to think about what could be included in this new school that would enhance the learning of our students and be a beautiful addition to our town.”
Williamson, a third grade teacher, said it will enhance the way she now teaches students. “Having a bigger space is something I will really take advantage of, space to show their work,” she said.
D’Andrea says the building will be energy-efficient in order to reduce the operating costs. “This is truly an exciting opportunity for the town of Tisbury and the Tisbury school community,” he said.
The Tisbury School Building Committee is hosting a presentation Saturday, April 7, in the school gym at 10 am to review schematic design plans, the project budget, and both state and town contributions. This is an opportunity for residents to hear the project details and to ask questions of the committee and their consultants. Tours of the existing school will be given from 11 am to 12 noon.
Yes lets let the students decide if we need a new school. Let them decide on the need for guns or not. Let them weigh in on all manner of social and economic issues since they have no authority and no accountability. It was not long ago when these same people told us not to trust anyone over 30 years old.
Tough to give up that power that you think you are entitled to as an angry old white man, I guess.
But here is some sound advice for you from one of those people you still resent from 50 years ago.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’
And then of course, when it comes to teenagers getting tired of their peers being slaughtered because the “adults” can’t seem to stop it, we have some words of encouragement for them from your favorite book .
Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous. …do not be afraid; do not be discouraged…
Those people who were over 30 at the time were telling us we were winning the war in Viet Nam, while my generation was being sent to be slaughtered in an unwinnable war. My generation stood up and stopped that war.. I hope this generation of young people will stand up and stop the senseless carnage of gun violence. Old white men have had their chance, and they have failed our youth.
great video. As a Tisbury resident, I have been a bit on the fence about the price, but I think it’s a “go” for me. And, I think the more input from the kids the better. It’s their future , after all.
Well dondondon you can pay more taxes if you wish for a school that kids want. why dont we vote the kids for Selectmen? BTW I was in the middle of the Haight Ashbury between 62 and 66 and nothing good came out of it. suicides, overdoses ,rampant sex and destroyed lives. But ok many of that generation are now college professors inculcating our kids on microagresssions, trigger warnings, and shutting down speech.
Andrew– I honestly don’t get why you are so bothered that the adults are seeking input from the kids. And I am happy to pay more taxes to have healthy, well adjusted,educated children today, because I know that will make for a better society tomorrow. I’m much more comfortable with that than giving a few of our local billionaires a “tax cut” that dwarfs all the island’s school budgets. I don’t even like that George Soros alone made enough on that to fund all the islands schools with his tax cut profits.. And one less fighter jet would not have the Russians landing on our shores tomorrow.
Inculcating is a great word, but you obviously have no idea how the teachers teach around here. And what is wrong with “rampant sex” ? Even Jesus said we should love each other.
Dude, don you’re hilarious. This is an article about a new school. Andrew made an interesting comparison , sorry you don’t agree.
Oh and what’s that word for when you treat people differently or categorically in regards to the the color of their skin…
I think you are implying that I may be picking on Andrew because of the color of his skin ?
Not so. I am trying to “educate” Andrew because he thinks his white skin gives him some kind of entitlement.
Just read what he writes. And racism is a condition where one thinks all people of a specific religion, ethnicity or color have certain characteristics — usually negative one’s. Andrew is white, he’s old, and he’s angry. Just stating the facts.
“That word” depends whether the intent is to insult and discriminate or simply describe a person. Dondondon12 was not being racist by labeling the ones running things during Vietnam “old white men” because that’s who was; certainly wasn’t young people or POC. It’s a tricky thing twisting words to invoke the appearance of racism, it tends to backfire.
If we want America to be great in future generations, the education given the students must be top notch. If the intent of the new school is to improve education on the Vineyard, I recommend it be given high priority.
@Andrew: You may be happy with the education you received, many of us are not.
new englander and dondondon. Please forgive me, I forgot that good education comes from an expensive building. Full time residents on MV can barely survive already on the costs associated with living here but you want to up their taxes even more. You two ought to look up education 40 years ago viz what it is today.Our kids are less educated today and a new building aint gonna do it.
My high school was built 1970 and continues to be one of the top schools in my home state. Side note: building opened with inadequate AC, was fixed. Funding for extra curricular is maintained and the teachers’ union is supported.
It’s responsible to argue cost, whether function could be kept up with comparable or less funding. Maybe you can report how funding and performance correlate. Go for it. Really.
Andrew — You say our kids are less educated today than 40 years ago.. Good April fools joke— 🙂
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