In Bristol, the future of a school housing a pre-K program is at the center of the city’s budget battle.
In Bristol, the future of a school housing a pre-K program is at the center of the city’s budget battle.
About 350 students attended the Edgewood Pre-K Academy until February, when severe roof leaks led to the school’s closure. The school had services for students with special needs.
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WATCH HEREMelina Floyd has a three-year-old son with autism. He was set to start school at Edgewood.
“I have lived in Bristol my whole life, and I was planning on sending my kid to the school that they're talking about closing, because there's a specific program that he needs,” Floyd said.
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SIGN UP Jeff Caggiano, Bristol’s mayor, questioned whether repairs would be effective in the long run.
“The thought process for me is why would we kind of put them in a school that is only going to have a band-aid fix to it, which is the roof repairs and mechanicals,” he said. “It's a very old school.”
The mayor suggested moving the pre-K program into a larger K-8 building. But the school district has been pushing for money to repair Edgewood in order to stay out of a deficit.
“If we want to strengthen our workforce, grow our tax base and ensure Bristol continues to move forward, we need to start in our classrooms,” Mary Hawk, Bristol Public Schools’ acting deputy superintendent, said during the city’s Board of Finance meeting Tuesday.
Shelby Pons, the chair of the Board of Education, said in a statement in part:
“It seems like the education is the only city department that is being asked to take this kind of hit after years of underfunding…The proposed budget that was presented to the board of finance is not just a suggestion but a necessary amount to operate our schools.”
The board of finance ended up passing a city budget that gives the school less money than they asked for. The city council will have the final approval on the budget at a meeting in May.
