325 Petition Signatures and Counting: Sustainable Northampton Public Schools Joins Northampton Education Action Team

Sustainable Northampton Public Schools has joined forces with Northampton Education Action Team to urge city officials to take the time needed to make wise long-term decisions for Northampton’s schools. Their combined website is online now at http://www.neatonline.net/. Here’s the latest news about the petition drive to defer a decision on closing a Northampton school for one year.

March 27, 2008

Dear parents and community members,

The outpouring from the community regarding the potential closing of a school has been remarkable and uplifting. We’re up to 325 signatures, and we’ve got until Monday when we’re going to deliver a copy of the letter and signers to each school committee member’s home. Let’s get to 500!! The text of the letter is below.

Who haven’t you asked yet? Which neighbor/co-worker/fellow carpooler have you missed? Show them the letter (or send it in an email), hear them (or read them) say yes loud and clear, and send an email to pschwartz@nationalpriorities.org with their name.

As the numbers mount, so does the news value — we’re aiming for a story in the Gazette prior to the next school committee meeting on Thurs., April 3rd
(JFK, 5 pm – BE THERE if you can!).

So let’s do it…500 at least!!!

This is just the beginning of making a difference. And it’s an excellent start.

And a new development: We’ve got a new NEAT website to help us coordinate all of our efforts and consolidate information. It’s at http://neatonline.net.
Thanks to Tim Fisher and Carin Clevidence for making this happen!

Keep the faith,
NEAT

Read the petition here.

See also:

April 12: Garden Clean Up/Community Rally for Bridge Street School

Mayor Presents Latest Northampton City Budget, Proposed School Budget Reductions (3/24/08)

Closing Bridge Street School Contradicts Smart Growth Goals (3/19/08)

Education World: “Are Smaller Schools Better Schools?” (7/20/00)