Tough Decisions

Economic reality caught up with the Norwich school system this week.  The $62.9 million school budget passed this week, meaning dozens of fewer teachers citywide along with the closing of the Greeneville and Buckingham elementary schools.  It may not have made anyone happy, but at least the people of Norwich know where they stand and deserve a collective pat on the back for fiscal responsibility.  A Catholic school also fell victim to its own budget crunch as St. Joseph's School on Cliff Street closed after 101 years.  Griswold also passed a $24.3 million school budget.   Now comes the reality of living with these budgets and how they will affect neighborhoods.  In Norwich, moving school children away from their neighborhoods to classes with more students per teacher can be very disruptive.  The Rose City is a sizeable chunk of real estate, and everyone knows longer bus rides do nothing to enhance the quality of education.  Norwich is also defined by a collection of communities within a community.  A school is no small part of that.  The poorest neighborhoods are the most affected by these cuts, but this move toward regionalization can't be good in the short term for any elementary student in Norwich.   They had to do it, but let's hope we can restore much of what we've lost before we get too far down the road.