Milford school plan makes good sense

Any proposal involving schools is guaranteed to stir up emotions. The plan to reconfigure Milford's education system is no exception.

In a plan that involves cutting 23 teaching positions in the lower grades, administrators are proposing a "sister schools" plan that would pair elementary schools with kindergarten through second grade in one building, and grades three to five in another.

It would allow children to stay together in the younger grades, but would, critics say, disrupt the neighborhood characteristics that help make Milford schools desirable.

The plan faces serious opposition, but critics should not assume administrators came up with the idea on a whim. In a difficult financial environment and with any change guaranteed to provoke an outcry, this is a plan that made the most sense in a highly imperfect world.

More than 700 people came to the Jonathan Law High School auditorium this week to hear the details of a plan to bring $2.2 million in savings, showing the depth of community interest.

The school board won't take action for a month, and in the meantime, members can expect to hear all measure of pleas and proposals.

It hasn't been an easy time in the Milford school system. The past two full-time superintendents have left town under a cloud, and the money paid to the most recent occupant, the deposed Harvey Polansky, has residents wondering why funds can be found to make a problem go away but not to keep schools open.

It's an unfair comparison, but the frustration is understandable. Milford is under tremendous pressure to get it right in the next search for a full-time superintendent.

In the meantime, acting Superintendent R. Michael Cummings Jr. is taking the heat for the school realignment proposal.

But outraged residents should remember what is not being cut. This is not an indiscriminate slashing of the arts, athletics or other extracurriculars. This is not a plan that would lead to a large increase in class sizes.

What it may be is the best solution to a vexing issue. Cummings said he would support the plan even without the need to cut the budget.

Residents should listen to him.