Voting 3 to 2, the Elementary School Building Committee decided last night to recommend constructing an eight-room addition to the Cleveland School rather than pursuing a brand-new school building. Two of the seven committee members present abstained from the vote.
The committee also agreed to convene with Superintendent of Schools Philip O. Coakley and the School Committee at Norwood Town Hall on Thursday evening, September 19. Committee member Jean R. Brown recommended scheduling the meeting for mid-September so the committee could review “actual, room-by-room statistics of enrollment at the Oldham School.” Mrs. Brown, alongside committee members Joseph Wall and John A. Abdallah, voted in favor of proposing the Cleveland School addition. Chairman Arthur B. Rodgers and member Joseph R. Olshan voted against the motion, while Grafton J. Corbett and Paul M. Murphy abstained.
Corbett stated he felt the committee could not make a definitive recommendation until after conferring with school officials, and Murphy noted he had heard that the School Committee and Superintendent Coakley opposed additions because they “would upset the curriculum.” “As far as I’m concerned, this certainly isn’t enough information for me to go on. We’re paying the superintendent good money, we should listen to what he has to say,” Murphy argued.
Conversely, Wall insisted that enrollment statistics supported an eight-room addition and argued that the committee needed to take a firm stance before meeting with school administrators. “We have to have a point to begin with when we meet with Mr. Coakley and the School Committee,” Abdallah added in seconding Wall’s recommendation. Wall further noted that the Balch School, comprising 20 rooms, had operated efficiently, prompting Abdallah to remark, “Any principal that can’t handle an additional eight classrooms ought to resign.” Wall also recalled that when the Prescott and Cleveland schools were originally built, town officials indicated they were engineered to allow for vertical or horizontal expansion if necessary.
However, Chairman Rodgers maintained his conviction that a new elementary school was required at Wilson Street, noting that school officials and Superintendent Coakley preferred a new facility. Rodgers cautioned the committee that public debate was inevitable regardless of the final decision, stating, “…you’re going to have an argument no matter what you decide upon.”
In addition to scheduling the September conference, the committee voted unanimously to recommend adding a cafetorium to the Balch School, and reviewed the establishment of a new school district encompassing the Rustic Acres development and a section of Westover.
Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger
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