The district used to leave school grounds open as de-facto parks; now it keeps out the residents who may be asked one day to help the schools out of a fiscal crisis

By Sean F. McEnroe

Ashland School District’s current fiscal crisis (Ashland News, 9/25) raises difficult questions about how we got here, and what to do next. 

In 2018 Ashland passed a $109 million bond levy and with it launched major construction projects at Helman, Walker, John Muir/TRAILS, Ashland Middle School and Ashland High School. Now, as fall classes begin in 2024, we learn that a half-million-dollar deficit has triggered a districtwide spending freeze. Meanwhile, veteran teachers are leaving in frustration, and schools will find themselves unable to fill the vacancies.

Ashland voters have shown their support for schools at the ballot box, but two questions haunt them: Where did the money go? And why wasn’t this crisis foreseen and averted? The answers are complex and somewhat unsatisfying. State funding is tied to enrollment numbers (Ashland’s are shrinking) and bond dollars are not entirely fungible. There is no easy fix.

School leaders deserve our sympathy, but sympathy only goes so far. In order to continue supporting the current leadership, we’ll need to be convinced that the district prioritizes hiring and retaining the best teachers over other secondary objectives. We’ll also need to see ASD stop spending money in ways that conflict with broader community objectives for neighborhoods, parks and safe transit.

In 2020 during the COVID shutdown, construction fences and flood lighting started going up around Ashland’s neighborhood schools. They never came down. What appeared to be temporary barriers became permanent ones, locking off spaces which had served as de facto public parks for generations. ASD took away our neighborhood parks, and we paid for it.

Meanwhile, the rest of the city government has done its level best to expand and maintain the lands under the purview of Parks and Recreation. The City Council has worked hard to improve pedestrian and bicycle transit. At the same time, the school district has sealed off the land once used for children’s games, family picnics and safe pleasant strolls.

The next time ASD puts forward a levy, it will confront both “donor fatigue” and distrust among people who care about schools, parks and libraries. Before that day comes, I have one suggestion: Unlock the school grounds. Neighbors forced to picnic on the sidewalk and let their kids play in the street will be a tough group of voters to win.

Sean F. McEnroe is an Ashland resident.