Metaphorical maelstrom swirls at budget forum

By Nick Grabbe
Staff Writer

Published on February 05, 2010

The Amherst regional schools should be a "knitted whole" and not a "vending machine," and educators should look at students as "a fire to be kindled" and not a "bucket to be filled." There were lots of metaphors at a public hearing on the school budget Tuesday, as spectators overflowed the room and spilled out into the hallway at the School Committee's first meeting to be televised live.

The committee is reviewing a list of $2 million in potential cuts to regional school spending next year, ranked in order of the pain they would produce. It is unclear how much money will be available, because a successful override, teacher salary givebacks, and state money could come in at a level that's more than expected.

"Education is more than a one-dimensional piece of paper, and it's more than a textbook," said Amherst Regional High School junior Emma Ayres. She and many other students sought to keep the instrumental music program off the cut list, with senior Emma Markham comparing its participants to a family.

Tom Gardner, the father of an eighth-grader, said that a series of school budget cut have gone "from fat to muscle to bone, and now we feel like we're getting to the marrow." He urged support for the March 23 override, saying, "Everyone is trying to protect this or that turf. We're all fighting for crumbs. Now it's time for the town to respond."

Diana Spurgin said her four children have been in the Amherst schools since 1991. "I don't want to have to look at my youngest child and say that the breadth of cultural opportunities at the high school will be significantly less than her older sister," she said.

Eugene Borowski, a tax preparer, provided another perspective. He said he's familiar with the finances of elderly people in Amherst who are on fixed incomes and see their health care costs go up. "They have to make a choice between buying prescriptions or paying their taxes," he said.

Borowski used some metaphors, too. Amherst has to "scrape the bottom" and "tighten our belts," he said.

Michael DeChiara, of Shutesbury, who made the "knitted whole" comparison, said the four towns in the regional district are bound together by shared values. He called the Regional School Committee "stewards" of educational quality.

ARHS senior Nick Baskin made the "fire" and "bucket" remarks. "Some days, the only reason I've gotten out of bed is because I've had wind ensemble," he said. "It's a sign that I'm alive, that I can feel something in my heart. That's a very dangerous thing to take away."

Senior Zach Gabor acknowledged that the School Committee will probably have to cut spending for next year. He said he favored increasing class sizes over cutting programs, a position the committee later voted to support.

David Mullins, a former ARHS teacher, agreed, saying he once had 34 students in a class in another district.

"When Amherst kids go to college, they know who they are, and the reason isn't academic classes, it's the enormous range of experience, such as music, art, child study, wood technology and the musical," he said. "They have had experiences that enabled them to figure out who they were. You get that from doing things outside of class. There's no substitute."