For those of you who have asked recently, the folks pushing for withdrawal are driven by a small, vocal, well-funded few in Freeport with their own agenda. They do not represent or speak for the whole of Freeport. It seems, as is the way of politicians, they have created their own reality – which is fraught with bullying, delay tactics, and burying facts that don’t support their agenda – and it’s to win at all costs. Their actions have:

• Delayed a desperately needed, already approved, Freeport High School renovation, which was efficiently designed for what is needed now, yet scalable for growth;

• Resulted in a long, drawn-out withdrawal plan that used taxpayers dollars and ended so diluted it shows no value for change – though if you want to consider the toll taken friends, families, and neighbors, actually set us back more than any dollar amount ever would;

• Skewed financials into a misleading scenario showing savings with return to the old, Freeport-only model.

In the Freeport-only model, which withdrawing will take us back to, we had no vote in the school budget – the Town Council owned it and regularly cut the recommended budget to shift dollars to support big corporate retail. Under that model, our schools fell to a state of disrepair – education and facilities – years prior to consolidation.

The RSU 5, in a very short time, has realized savings that allowed reinvestment into its infrastructure – upgrading curriculum, retaining and attracting strong leaders and educators, and building more competitive athletics programs. The facilities upgrade is community approved and ready to start on Nov. 5. That alone will create community-wide gains.

Terry Agnese

Freeport