Regional school idea is being studied

Lenox and Lee are looking into their budgets for this fiscal year, but are also examining the costs going forward during the next decade.

We are not sure what elementary and secondary education will be about in terms of each communities demand and the amount of students served going forward.

Will school choice be in the equation, where outside students pay about a third of the cost of education?

Will elementary education remain the same in terms of student-teacher ratios?

Question: What will tommorrow’s regional schools look like in a model plan? Will it be integration of students into a large class on site or will the small classrooms prevail? Will public school remain as the status quo or will we as a community look toward a school without walls?

And if there is a large change in education, whereby fiber is in play and students are connected to their teachers through the internet and Skype, creating a school without walls at the secondary level, then the costs of maintaining a building or series of buildings is diminished.

Regionalization probably does not work for just two communities. Here one needs to bring in Richmond, West Stockbridge, Stockbridge, Becket and possibly Otis to make a strong and compelling argument.

In the school without walls theory, Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge and Richmond have Time Warner Cable to integrate the service. Becket and Otis would have to develop a plan for linkage. Charter serves West Stockbridge.

Key to any regional plan is once again fiber and its integration thereof.

At this point, we don’t know the scope of MassBroadband 123 other than fiber to public buildings. Details on who will install the last mile of fiber have not been announced.

Posted by George C. Jordan III on April 4, 2013. Filed under Editorials,Opinion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry