November 8 Town Meeting
November 5, 2004
Bridgewater
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Joseph Gillis Jr.
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Articles 18 and 19 have to do with two proposals related to the B-R Regional School System and Bridgewater K-8.
Article 18 is a Citizen's Petition, started prior to Bridgewater convening an Education Study Committee; and the petition calls for breaking away Bridgewater's K-8 grades from the B-R Region.
Article 19 is also a Citizen's Petition, filed after Article 18. It seeks to not vote on de-Regionalizing until BOTH town study committees have completed their work.
On August 31st, I did make my thoughts known on this website [click here to read] about the efforts to break up the district. I believed then, as I do now, that the town should allow the Bridgewater Study Comm to complete its task - provided it does this in a timely manner. Whether a vote is taken Monday or in May, the effective date for any change would still be July 1, 2006.
As far as Article 19, I do not believe that Bridgewater should wait for the completion of a separate study from Raynham to decide what is best for Bridgewater. Bridgewater has no control over the actions taken by the Raynham Selectmen, nor does Bridgewater have any connection to the formed Raynham Study Committee. There is no reason to wait for what they may decide. As a School Committee Member for B-R, I am interested in what the reports highlight. However, that is separate from the interests of Bridgewater citizens. Both Study Committees were given the task of determining what is best for each respective Town's education. Neither Committee is looking at the other town. So, why should a vote hinge on the actions of another Town's Study Committee?
The wording of Article 19 also concerns me in that it is attempting to not only limit actions at this meeting, but also any future Town Meetings. The Article states "...voted on, only after the committees in Bridgewater and in Raynham have convened and made determinations as to what is in the best interests of both Towns financially and edcationally for the Ditrict."
So, if this is so voted, would future Town Meetings be prohibited from addressing the issue until the Study Committees have made determinations? What if one or the other Committee fails to make a determination, or is not completed by the spring? Is this an appropriate question for Town Meeting? I believe that Article 19 is worded in such a way that it must be determined "out of order" or "unacceptable" at Town Meeting. A Town Meeting vote should not bind any future Town Meeting votes or petitions to any restrictions.
I believe it best that Article 18 be withdrawn prior to it being read. If the citizens of Bridgewater so desire, they may re-petition for this question at a future meeting.
Article 19 should be ruled 'out-of-order', and skipped at the meeting.
