Letters

There’s been a whole lot of talk about Marsden Street over the last several months. We ruefully remember a time not that long ago when we had to explain to people the location of Marsden Street, our home.

Democratic conversation was at its best during the two very long and mostly civil Southampton Town Board forums that exemplified our messy democracy and the free exchange of ideas.

But Marsden talk was at its worst when public School Board officials personally threatened lawsuits against private citizens for exercising their right to free speech at board meetings and in a recent letter to the editor, with unsubstantiated claims in this very paper.

We have tried to civilly debate the merits of the Marsden Street proposition and not sink to desperate and mean-spirited bullying. We want to say again that the bitter feelings on both sides result not from character issues but from a conflict between different visions of what a school district should prioritize in 2023.

What’s next? It depends on whom you trust, and it’s only natural to trust authority figures, like the school and its board. In fact, we have been strong supporters of the school and have been happy with the education it gave our four children.

But this board has broken that trust. If the board was straightforward and did community surveys and included their own facilities committee from the beginning over one year ago, we wouldn’t be in this divisive mess right now. There is a New York State designed procedure for working on such difficult community issues: the shared decision making committee. Our school district is mandated to have one, by state regulation; it currently is inactive. (Full disclosure: Some years ago, Leah was invited to participate in one by Jeff Nichols, but her attendance at the very small group was eclipsed by her own work at the time.)

Going forward, no matter what the outcome of the election, we would like to see this and issues such as lunches for the elementary school population put before this type of community-based committee. Trusting a group of community members from local not-for-profits, businesses, faith-based organizations, artists, recent graduates, retired citizens and others as well as school community members would rebuild trust in the school administration and board as well. Inclusion and outreach will build a stronger school and reunify the electorate. We would both volunteer to participate instantly if this or a similar committee was put in place.

Vote no to Proposition 2, the Marsden Street bond. Vote yes with your hands and feet to rebuild our community.

John and Leah Oppenheimer

Sag Harbor