Letters to the Editor

On the Override

Dear Editor,

There is no personal reason for me to support the Override Ballot Question to increase my real estate property tax bill to fund the Winthrop Public Schools. I am not a teacher or administrator in the school system, and I have no children or grandchildren in those schools.

In fact, as a homeowner in my 70s, who is not wealthy, I have a good reason not to support the override which will cost me several hundred dollars each year.

However, last month I attended my Class Reunion celebrating 55 years since our graduation in 1969. Seeing old classmates and reminiscing about our high school years, in particular, reminded me of how important and formative my public-school education in Winthrop has been to my life.

Back then, before Proposition 2½ was passed in Massachusetts, our school system was never short of necessary funding. If the schools needed money, Town Meeting members voted to approve the request and taxpayers obliged.

Today, I feel obligated to provide our school system and students the funds necessary to prevent shortfalls in the school budget for the next three years which will occur if the override is not successful.

I appreciate the hard work of our teachers and administrators to educate our students with enthusiasm, expertise, and empathy. However, it is a real challenge when they don’t have what they need to provide a superior education.

In Boston Magazine’s September ranking of the 150 public high schools in Greater Boston, Winthrop High School was 117th, down from last year when Winthrop was 106th.

Of course, Winthrop cannot compete with wealthy suburban schools such as Weston, Wayland, Wellesley, Lexington, Newton, Winchester, and Brookline, and we do better than Chelsea, Lynn, Everett, Revere, Malden, Saugus, and Salem. However, Gloucester, Beverly, Danvers, Medford, Swampscott, Stoneham, and Marblehead rank higher between 46th and 98th. Winthrop should aspire to do better for our children.

A major reason for Winthrop’s low ranking is a higher average class size and student-to-teacher ratio than almost any other public high school in the region, which lead to lower student performance in school. In fact, with an average class size of 19.0 and a student-to-teacher ratio of 13.3 students to 1 teacher, Winthrop has some of the highest numbers of the 150 public high schools in Greater Boston.  This is a direct result of minimal funding of our school system over the years.

So, I will be voting Yes on the Override to prevent significant cuts to staffing, programs, and services, impacting the quality of Winthrop’s public education even further.

I hope you will join me in voting Yes! for Winthrop Kids!

Bill Schmidt

New Fire Station

Dear Editor,

The negativity towards building a new Fire Station has become disturbing and negligent. Those who think a new station is not indicated, take yourself to either of the 2 stations. Request a tour and I am sure a Fire Fighter, if available, will gladly show you around. You will then see for yourself the working and living conditions that Winthrop Fire Fighters endure.

Both stations were built for the horse drawn equipment-age, not for the modern equipment now used. Both are over 100 years old. The living quarters have been kept up to date by the fire fighters themselves as many have experience in plumbing, electrical work and other construction aspects.

The current equipment cannot be standard size because the trucks won’t fit in the existing stations. So our trucks, including the ladder truck, are built specifically for Winthrop stations at an additional cost.

No one is denying that the Schools need more money. No one is denying that our home owners need relief from flooding caused by the water that surrounds us.

But we need to look at the need for a Fire Station and also for the health of our Fire Fighters. It has been proven that the number one cause of lung cancer in a Fire Fighter has been because of improper procedure after returning from a fire. There is no real area where the authorized decontamination can happen after a working fire.

So now it is the Fire Fighters turn for the Town of Winthrop to help. They need this new station, they deserve this new station. They are protecting us 24/7 and we need now to protect them.

The final decision on location will be up to the Council once the survey is completed. This decision should also have input from the Fire Chief and his Administrative Staff. In the long run they are the experts in location.

Karin Chavis

Working Collaboratively

Dear Editor,

Being part of a community means investing the time to understand those issues that have the greatest impact on the residents who reside there. It also means rising to the occasion and becoming involved with other residents and the leadership through collaborative efforts towards proactive solutions in solving those issues. As residents of Winthrop for almost eleven years now, my husband and I have taken the opportunity to get involved in town-related issues. It is to our benefit to know what challenges are before us, our neighbors, and the broader Winthrop community. I ran for town council in 2021 and while I did not win the council seat in my precinct, it certainly did not deter me from remaining an active participant on town issues. If anything, it furthered my resolve to stay involved, active, and aware. And I have and am. I would surmise that all of the Winthrop Town Council, Town Manager. Winthrop Police and Fire, and a few of the town department heads will attest to this as well.

Winthrop is a cyclone of community-related issues right now. At the forefront, residents will be voting on November 5 in favor of or against an override for our schools. This situation is a ride-or-die for Winthrop. Non-passage of the override puts our schools, students, teachers, paraprofessionals, and extracurricular programs at great risk. This is not a game, It is our reality. Winthrop is long overdue for a new fire station. Decades overdue. And at some point soon, residents will vote on this issue as well. Addressing the need for flood mitigation in the Morton and Banks Street neighborhood is a serious, serious problem and a detriment to the residents who reside there, and their properties. This takes significant money and the money has to come from somewhere and soon. Winter is coming. As you are well aware, the MBTA 3A (Communities Act) has its foothold in resident and town leadership conversations, so there is no need to get into the nitty-gritty of it here. The Winthrop Transcript has provided plenty of media coverage on 3A thus far.

As a resident, it can be a challenge and frustrating to work at addressing things in your community. You stand a greater chance of making progress if you can collaborate with other people and that means taking on the challenge of really wanting to make a difference and figuring out the roadmap to getting there. None of this comes without complication, frustration, and much-needed determination. However, collaboration is like a finely tuned machine. Once you get the glitches ironed out, then progress becomes much easier. It is a learning process and one that I hope to become better at as time passes. This past summer, I had an opportunity to sit and chat over coffee with a few residents about the many issues and challenges we, as a community face; Climate change, the need for better public transit, opportunities for increased housing, improvements to our town’s infrastructure, getting more funding for the town, better collaboration between residents and leadership, more assistance from Massport and MWRA. People have been tackling certain issues individually and that gets exhausting. They feel burned out, they give up and they walk away. It is a feeling I can attest to 100%. Out of that coffee chat came the idea that perhaps we could make a difference if we worked together positively and constructively. That is where we got the idea to create Winthrop Working Together (WWT). So that readers are clear, we are not a formal organization [meaning a nonprofit]. We are a group of Winthrop residents with the same concerns held by the broader community. WWT is not exclusionary; any resident who so desires to get involved is welcome to do so. We have no grant funding or any funding for that matter. We signed up to sponsor the Trunk or Treat event and pulled money from our own pockets, just as any other group wishing to sponsor the event is welcome to do. We recently held our first event which was on climate change and open to the entire community. Winthrop Working Together was created by a broad spectrum of residents during many, many discussions among neighbors, family, and friends. We are most definitely not a “Yes” to any group’s “No”. All of the topics referenced in the second paragraph belong to all of us. To single out any one individual publicly is erroneous at best. All of the issues mentioned here concern each of us, no matter how long we have been here, whether or not we own or rent where we live, or even if we have children in the public school system. Housing, infrastructure, public safety (Police and Fire), our schools, climate change, flooding, property taxes and so on. These issues belong to every resident of the Winthrop community including our town’s leadership. As residents, we must get involved whether against or for the school override, new fire station, pushing for flood mitigation efforts, better public transit for the town, lower taxes, and yes, even the MBTA 3A Communities Law.

Regardless of where folks stand on specific town-related issues, I respect their passion in stepping up to get involved and giving of their time and energy. It takes a lot out of a person mentally and physically. It is just another testament to the benefit of working collaboratively in a group, which again is exactly why some of us residents formed Winthrop Working Together.

Respectfully, Scott Mahoney-Wright