On this coming Saturday, September 14, in Charter Hall at 9:30am we are holding a Town Forum for citizens to learn more about the upcoming Oct. 5 referendum vote for the Sherman School. The focus of the meeting will be primarily on the project’s financial aspects, particularly how the bonding will affect your taxes. However, questions on the plan itself from a construction/design point-of-view along with any other questions and concerns will be welcomed too. As a companion piece to this meeting, last week we sent out to Sherman taxpayers via NIXLE two charts outlining the tax impact of the plan. These charts can also be found on the Town website.
I do encourage you to learn as much as you can about the Sherman School renovation/repair project. If you’re still stuck in “NO mode” ask yourself what other solution works for you. As I wrote last week, we will be asked to repair this building’s infrastructure as it is state and federal law to house students in a safe, properly functioning building. We can do this in a way wherein we have control of the expenses and work timeline (the plan presented), or we can let the situation be the boss and pay as we go on a series of expensive emergency repairs over the course of eight to ten years. That will be much more costly than the proposed current plan.
Maybe you believe the naysayers who claim educational paradigms are changing to remote learning (no other school is preparing that way – why Sherman?) or if you believe that only students with high standardized test scores deserve a properly functioning school (our students, by the way, actually test quite high for a school of our size) or if you believe that the student population will be zero in 20 years (I’d hate to roll the dice on that prediction). These are not, quite frankly, very good reasons to keep from fixing a broken school. And Sherman fixes what it owns. For you who are still on the fence, give these financial numbers your close attention and see what this project will actually cost you as a taxpayer. I think you will be surprised, and possibly, pleased.
It was gratifying and much appreciated to see the Sherman Church congregation honor our first responders and members of the Sherman Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) at last Sunday’s service. How wonderful of the church to recognize the service provided to us by the SVFD. When this year is over, the SVFD will have answered almost (and maybe more than) 500 calls. Since there are only 365 days in a year, it’s easy to see how busy these responders are. They answer all types of calls, some of them not critical and, yet, others when the people are having the worst day of their lives. In addition to the calls that interrupt their days, the SVFD members are in weekly meetings and on-going trainings to stay certified and on top of their game. It’s a lot of hours for each member and I am always in awe of each member’s dedication.
Just a reminder that Farm Day will take place up at Happy Acres on Saturday, Oct. 5 from 11 to 3pm. Lots of cool activities for the kids, good food, art, music, tractors, pumpkins and cows. Farmer David Jellen is doing an amazing job up at the farm and you will see what that means when you visit on Farm Day. Also, the Sherman Town softball tournament is scheduled for Saturday, September 28. This is a fun-filled event and a chance to play a little softball when you join a team. All players are welcomed.
