Copyright berkshireeagle
To the editor: I urge voters to do the right thing for our young people and vote yes for a new Monument Mountain Regional High School. Our children need the opportunities afforded by a truly comprehensive high school, one that has both academic and vocational opportunities. The proposed high school would improve and expand those opportunities, adding an electrical program to the already existing horticultural, automotive and early childhood programs, which will also benefit from improved infrastructure. Academic programs would also greatly benefit from new facilities, especially science and technology education. In order to maintain our community’s economic health, we need to train our youngest citizens and future contributors in a state-of-the-art building. We don't really have another option. Like it or not, the current high school is not salvageable. It leaks. Its HVAC systems are in constant disrepair. It is not accessible to folks with physical limitations. It is dingy and dark. Necessary repairs would cost about as much as a new building, given that no state grants are available, as they are for a new building. I have no vested interest or ulterior motive in writing about the upcoming vote to approve the building of a new high school for the citizens of the Berkshire Hills Regional School District. I am a parent in the district, but my children have already graduated from Monument Mountain Regional High School. I am also a teacher in the district, but I teach math and special education to seventh- and eighth-graders. I would receive no benefit, personally and professionally, from the construction of a new school. And like all homeowners, my tax bill will be affected by the construction. Yet I strongly encourage everyone to vote yes for the construction. I see the need every day for our students to have a variety of programs offered to them in high school. Our community’s youth deserve an upgrade in the building in which they learn. Sam Ernst, Great Barrington
