To the Editor:

The Onteora Board of Education
has voted to close Woodstock School.
I am pretty sure Woodstock School parents
don’t think that is very cool.

They talked of dismal outlooks
and things that look so dire,
DiNapoli reports that say
downward financial spire.

Then right away they say:
let’s expand the last elementary school —
bigger, bonded Bennett —
but who are they trying to fool?

If things are really oh so dire,
and the children will already fit,
if they can move the fifth to MS,
why don’t they just do it?

Because they want bigger.
And they want better.
They’ll use “dire and dismal”
to get what they’re after.

Eight classrooms and an art room,
a music room or three or two,
don’t forget the exterior bathrooms —
so useful for me and you.

A bigger gym for sports games
for kids from K through eight.
And we must move that K–5 playground
so the pickup lane paving fits right.

Student numbers are declining,
so what’s the best thing to do?
Double the size and enhance
the remaining elementary school?

And as we bond for eighteen years,
as our student numbers decline,
will our bigger, better Bennett
become half-empty over time?

Vote no for the bigger Bennett.
Vote no for the bonded boondoggle.
If you must have consolidation,
at least be fiscally responsible.

Allison Irwin
Olive, N.Y