Wakefield Daily Item - Letter to the Editor

Every Parent Should be Concerned

Bronwyn Della-Volpe

Mr. Stella’s objections to a recent Item letter that outlined some of the dangers inherent in the NEMT vocational school hilltop building site make it clear that he does not consider the safety of our campuses an important aspect of building a new school. I find this particularly odd because Mr. Stella’s story about his wife using the vocational school illustrates exactly why every school needs be built with safety and inclusion in mind, making them accessible to everyone rather than only the youngest and most able-bodied among us. Add to this Mr. Stella’s grossly inaccurate depiction of his fellow residents who oppose the school location, and I must respond to correct the record.

The slogan for those who oppose the location of the new vocational school is ‘Save the Forest and Build the Voke’. This wording alone should make it clear that it is not the school or vocational training that they oppose. It is a mystery how Mr. Stella arrives at the erroneous and offensive notion that the opposition is “ungrateful” and ‘doesn’t support a new school or vocational training’.

For nearly two years, the Save the Forest and Build the Voke volunteers in the 11 communities that make up the NEMT student body have been detailing how it is the location – and only the location – of the new school that is the issue. A location that is rife with safety issues must always be questioned and examined. To ridicule someone for advocating for a safer school campus is irrational.

For the millionth time, there were three viable building sites for the new vocational school. For reasons still not revealed, the NEMT School Building Committee, which includes Superintendent David DiBarri and Town Administrator Steve Maio, chose the most expensive destructive and unsafe site. But for this unwise and inexplicable decision, we could have benefitted from a brand new vocational school that would have had a safer campus, and have kept Wakefield’s only Core forest habitat intact. Who wouldn’t want the safest campus, and an intact forest to go along with our new vocational school?

This isn’t rocket science; one can object to an aspect of a project without objecting to the overall project. Protesting an expensive and unsafe location is not the same as objecting to a new school. The unfortunate location of the new NEMT Vocational School is a perfect example of this simple concept.

Bronwyn Della-Volpe

December 19, 2023