“Please come to a protest of the school consolidation plan,” Nolan’s answering machine message says. “Make your opposition to the plan known.”
And even those who have come out in support of the plan acknowledge its potential risks and the difficulties involved in its implementation.
“Whatever the merits of this plan—and I think it has some merits—the budget problem is larger and no one has demonstrated to me that it won’t go away next year,” Andrews says. “This plan is meant to find $4 million that is missing and I think we’ll be in the same situation next year. I very much hope that it won’t be a matter of taking resources out of school programs again.”
Fantini says he worries about the district’s ability to carry through on the new proposal.
“This is clearly a high-risk maneuver. The process after the fact is going to have to be very thoroughly done,” he says. “I would prefer to move fewer children and make the move just a little more carefully and thoughtfully.”
Fantini adds that he fears a “big exodus” from the system and says he will propose “some amendments to try to hold people in Cambridge.”
—Staff writer Claire A. Pasternack can be reached at cpastern@fas.harvard.edu.