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Cambridge Closes Schools

Merger plan passes despite parents’ outcry

“It almost seems you’re ready to support anything just to get us off your backs,” said parent John Kernochan.

“The selling feature behind this proposal was that it seemed to have four votes,” said committee member Alan C. Price, who voted against the plan.

Price suggested closing only one school this year and adopting a budget plan he created that he said would save over $3 million without closing schools.

But interspersed in the protest were several parents, teachers and school administrators who urged the committee to adopt the plan. Some cited the budget cuts that would result if the plan were rejected.

“The other options would decimate half the schools in Cambridge,” said Kennedy School Assistant Principal Joseph Grassia. “There is a silent majority out there that is behind this.”

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And despite some parents’ hopes that they would sway committee members’ opinions, each of five committee members one-by-one pledged their support for the plan.

“This is not about slamming schools together to make test scores better,” said committee member Nancy Walser, who voted in favor of the plan and presented ten reasons why she thought it was educationally sound. “I hope you will see the benefits of the plan for the whole district,” she said to booing parents, many of whom threatened to leave the school district. “We need your support—don’t go anywhere.”

Committee member Alice L. Turkel, who also supported the plan, said she considered it “flawed” but said that its potential benefits would outweigh its risks.

“We’re asking a lot of the strong schools, but I believe they can do it,” she said. “If we vote this plan we will shake public confidence, but if we don’t vote it we will continue to watch it dwindle.”

As Alfred B. Fantini announced his decision to vote in favor of the measure, thus creating the majority needed to pass the plan, nearly 50 parents left the room. After the final vote was announced, many parents, teachers, and administrators broke into tears.

“I worry about my kids because they think they did something wrong,” said Sheilah M. Donelin, who has been a Fitzgerald School math teacher for 32 years. “You’re just supposed to forget everything,” she said tearfully.

“This is musical plans,” said Peabody parent Patricia Nolan. “It is one of the worst that’s been on the table. I’m really, really disappointed—it’s unbelievable. Tomorrow I’ll have to decide what to do with my kid.”

Nolan said she knew two friends who planned to put their homes on the market today and move to Arlington and Belmont in search of new schools for their children to attend.

—Staff writer Claire A. Pasternack can be reached at cpastern@fas.harvard.edu.

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