I have been a resident of Port Washington for forty years; all three of our children attended schools here, and now our grandchild just completed kindergarten.
I am writing to you with the hope that this letter makes it to your publication for the residents of Port Washington to see as I doubt I am the only one with concerns as to how our school board handled the needs of its teachers, students and families with school closings.
I wish to make it clear that the teachers should be commended for their efforts and are not the reason for my concern. We learned from speaking to them that they were limited in their efforts to work through the closings with what the school board provided.
Throughout the country many school boards provided a virtual classroom with Zoom and other like platforms, the technological equivalent of the essential educational interface between teachers and students. I find our school board’s efforts in this regard alarmingly inadequate, especially given the high school taxes in this district; this is especially disturbing given the school board’s proposed 2020-21 budget of $163 Million.
The loses that all residents suffered with the school closing have yet to be addressed, but to ask for them to approve such a budget despite the lack of adequate tools for teachers and students to carry on is unacceptable. I’m sure we will hear more about this issue, including the board’s responses, which hopefully will not be excuses disguised as justifications.
-John V. Immitt
