I was dismayed to see that retired teachers will be required to pay more money out of pocket for their health insurance and to switch to an insurance program of lesser quality. Although I understand the initial attraction to save Harvard some money, it strikes me as wrong to renege on our commitment to these retirees. Some will suffer a substantial financial hit to their fixed retirement income.
As someone who grew up in town and graduated from Bromfield 41 years ago, I want to remind everyone of the significant service that these retired teachers provided our community. These are people to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude. These teachers turned our school system into a perennial top performer in Massachusetts that is today the envy of many communities.
Our schools were not always that way. But years ago our community put its money where its mouth was and we made the commitments to get education right. We rejected regionalization more than once. We stopped regionalizing our superintendent; we built new school buildings and upgraded others. But most importantly we hired great teachers, experienced teachers who committed to make a difference in the lives of our children. While our community was out working hard every day to pay our tax bills, our teachers did exactly what we asked of them: to teach our children well. Looking back 40 years, I find it remarkable what Harvard’s partnership with its teachers accomplished. “Educational excellence” is how we define our community now, and those words are as much a part of our self-identity as is the word “Harvard.” It is why our property values remain strong. To betray that commitment now is wrong.
My two kids are out of school, both graduating from Bromfield recently. Mary and I are staying, paying our taxes, and supporting whatever efforts we can to keep the Harvard school system great. I’m hopeful that our Board of Selectmen will find ways to mitigate the impact of these drastic cuts and in so doing, add their weight to the ongoing effort to attract the best of the next generation of educators.
Steve Finnegan
Oak Hill Road
