Board of Ed Considers Whether to Approve $5,000 Gift for Ox Ridge School

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A proposed $5,000 gift for Ox Ridge School from a fifth-grader’s family was discussed by the Board of Education at a recent meeting. But the board had some qualms.

Luke Forshaw, principal at Ox Ridge School, said that the school was considering using the gift to improve the library/media center through furniture or equipment upgrades. However, the Board of Ed disagreed with that idea, as they saw several problems in accepting the gift. First, there was no definitive plan for the gift. Although Forshaw said the donation was going to be used for the library, there was no set plan, such as what the school would be buying, when the school would buy it, or even how the school would be using the gift.

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The Board of Education Needs to Set an Example

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On Tuesday night — or, rather, past midnight on Wednesday morning — the Board of Education did the same thing it’s previously done at budget season: Conduct a rushed, exhausting marathon of a meeting that sets a lousy example for students and adults by demonstrating a lack of planning. It’s also a poor way to conduct business that many town residents want to be able to monitor. 

The board members and senior district administrators shouldn’t be patting themselves on the back this morning for sacrificing their night in order to get the budget passed before February break. Sure, they need to give the Board of Finance time to review the budget. But everybody’s got deadlines. This is supposed to be a deliberative process, and midnight isn’t the time to deliberate.