Letter to the Editor: The Nutley I Used To Know
Letter to the Editor:
I am writing to address the upcoming referendum, and why I believe it is important to vote “yes”.
I am a proud, born and bred Nutleyite: I was raised on White Terrace, attended Washington Elementary School, Franklin Middle School, and graduated from Nutley High School. As a child, I enjoyed the many wonderful aspects of Nutley….ice skating at the ITT pond, seeing movies at the Franklin Theater, and walking to RoseAnn’s Sweet Shoppe for Tootsie Rolls. But what I especially loved was our wonderful schools: I remember getting live Christmas trees in our classrooms every year, doing fun yet educational projects, having small/average sized classes, playing “king of the hill” outside at recess, and having close relationships with my teachers.
When I had my first child, we bought a house on Hetherington Road. I was excited to raise my child in this special town, and happy that she, too, would attend the same three schools I attended.
Things change, I guess. ITT is gone. We have to go to Clifton Commons if we want to see a movie. And although I have always been happy with Nutley schools, our experience hasn’t been what I imagined it would be. When my second child reached 6th grade, she was originally in a class of 30. After some drama, trailers were bought, classes were split, and into the “modular classroom” she went. There certainly were issues with this: switching classes in poor weather, security, etc., but what bothered me the most was that my daughter, who has slight issues with reading, had to see her reading specialist in a shared closet. A closet!
This was not the Nutley school experience I remember.
Last year, my family moved to Prospect Street. My youngest daughter would now switch to Spring Garden School. I felt so fortunate! She would not be in a trailer like her sister! But alas, sixth grade had to be consolidated in order to fit more students. She is now in a class of 28.
This is not the Nutley I knew. The Nutley I grew up with had average size classes (remember when they almost closed Radcliffe due to low enrollment?) Students who needed extra help got an actual room! And there was space outside at recess for “king of the mountain”….not trailers.
I drove past a school on the Clifton/Passaic border the other day. It had about ten stacked trailers on the property. This, I thought, will be what Nutley will become if the referendum doesn’t pass.
Do we want to emulate this?
Is that what we want for Nutley? For the town we all love so much?
My three daughters are now in 10th, 8th, and 6th grades. Due to their ages, they will most likely not glean any benefits from the new construction if it passes. I will, however, still vote yes. Nutley children deserve average class sizes, they deserve classrooms in which they can learn to their fullest potential, they deserve a full lunch and space to play at recess.
They deserve the Nutley schools I used to know.
Susan Kunst Gibney