According to recent news articles, the Regional School District 4 Board of Education is considering abandoning the John Winthrop Middle School (JWMS) due to building failures and blending 7th and 8th grade students into Valley Regional High School (VRHS). Given the extreme costs associated with remediation and the declining student population, this, at face value, seems to make the most sense. Additionally, costs duplicated by operating two individual facilities can be reduced through the consolidation of services.

I would ask the board to go one step further in an attempt to turn lemons into a somewhat diluted lemonade. As I read the Deep River online property map, it appears Region 4 owns over 100 acres of land and buildings on what is now the JWMS complex. If the school is closed, it would make no sense to continue to own this expansive piece of property. Too many privately held properties lie between VRHS and JWMS to allow for any integration. Deep River and Region 4 should consider all possible options to market and sell the property.

Doing so is a win-win for Deep River and Region 4. Depending on what is ultimately developed on the property, Deep River as a town would have over 100 acres with buildings back on the tax roll. Region 4 would then be able to apply the sale proceeds towards the cost of developing Valley into a 7 through 12 school.

While this would not make the problem go away, it would take some of the sting out of the total cost of this proposed project.

Gary Pipkin

Chester