The Fairfield Taxpayers League charged the Fairfield school administration with having pressured students at both Andrew Warde and Roger Ludlowe high schools to influence parents and friends to vote in favor of converting Mill Plain School into the new Roger Ludlowe High School. That's according to a story published 48 years ago today, Saturday, February 11, 1961.
The original Ludlowe High School, located in what is now Tomlinson Middle School (seen at left), could no longer house the burgeoning high school population in Fairfield in 1961. Double-sessions were required for the students who attended Ludlowe. Meanwhile, Warde, which opened in 1956, was the sparkling new public high school in town, more than comfortably housing its large student population.
Edward Remeika and James Aurigemma, officials of the league, said petitions for the students to sign were circulated in both high schools. The townwide referendum was to take place less than a week later.
The officials said the petitions read, "We, the students of Roger Ludlowe (and Andrew Warde), being definitely in favor of the conversion of Mill Plain School to prevent double sessions, will do all in our power to have our parents and other voters vote 'no' to double sessions in the referendum Wednesday, February 15."
Mr. Remeika and Mr. Aurigemma also charged that school paper and time were used in the circulation of the petitions. "We feel that this sort of pressure should not be permitted in the schools," they said. "The parents and taxpayers are old enough and certainly wise enough to make up their own minds without the undue influence of the school administration."
Vincent Bussetti, president of the league, also took exception to a statement issued by Emil Frankel on behalf of the Fairfield High alumni for Continued Quality Education. The group favored the conversion. Frankel graduated from Warde in 1957 and went on to attend Wesleyan University.
Christopher Currie, the president of the Roger Ludlowe All-School Congress, said that he and his counterpart at Andrew Warde High School, Samuel Rost, president of the Warde Student Council, were circulating petitions in which students pledged to "do all in our power to have our parents vote 'no' to double sessions" in the referendum on the Mill Plain School plan.
Currie said that the original idea for the petition started when a group of Ludlowe students met to consider what they could contribute in support of the addition proposal. They signed "work volunteer cards," offering to babysit for voters, campaign door-to-door, distribute campaign literature, and demonstrate --- with signs --- at the town's 13 polling places. He said that the response was "very good, just about the best we've had on any project."
Asked why students were opposing a cut in the school day from six hours to four hours, which would happen if the new school is defeated, the student leader said, "We owe it to the students who will come after us to see that they have the same educational opportunities that we enjoy."
He asked signers to accompany their parents to the polls, "just to make sure they cast their ballots."
Paul
Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.
Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.
Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".
The original Ludlowe High School, located in what is now Tomlinson Middle School (seen at left), could no longer house the burgeoning high school population in Fairfield in 1961. Double-sessions were required for the students who attended Ludlowe. Meanwhile, Warde, which opened in 1956, was the sparkling new public high school in town, more than comfortably housing its large student population.Edward Remeika and James Aurigemma, officials of the league, said petitions for the students to sign were circulated in both high schools. The townwide referendum was to take place less than a week later.
The officials said the petitions read, "We, the students of Roger Ludlowe (and Andrew Warde), being definitely in favor of the conversion of Mill Plain School to prevent double sessions, will do all in our power to have our parents and other voters vote 'no' to double sessions in the referendum Wednesday, February 15."
Mr. Remeika and Mr. Aurigemma also charged that school paper and time were used in the circulation of the petitions. "We feel that this sort of pressure should not be permitted in the schools," they said. "The parents and taxpayers are old enough and certainly wise enough to make up their own minds without the undue influence of the school administration."
Vincent Bussetti, president of the league, also took exception to a statement issued by Emil Frankel on behalf of the Fairfield High alumni for Continued Quality Education. The group favored the conversion. Frankel graduated from Warde in 1957 and went on to attend Wesleyan University.
Christopher Currie, the president of the Roger Ludlowe All-School Congress, said that he and his counterpart at Andrew Warde High School, Samuel Rost, president of the Warde Student Council, were circulating petitions in which students pledged to "do all in our power to have our parents vote 'no' to double sessions" in the referendum on the Mill Plain School plan.Currie said that the original idea for the petition started when a group of Ludlowe students met to consider what they could contribute in support of the addition proposal. They signed "work volunteer cards," offering to babysit for voters, campaign door-to-door, distribute campaign literature, and demonstrate --- with signs --- at the town's 13 polling places. He said that the response was "very good, just about the best we've had on any project."
Asked why students were opposing a cut in the school day from six hours to four hours, which would happen if the new school is defeated, the student leader said, "We owe it to the students who will come after us to see that they have the same educational opportunities that we enjoy."
He asked signers to accompany their parents to the polls, "just to make sure they cast their ballots."
Paul
Please sign the AWHS Guest Book.
Visit the Andrew Warde High School Gift Shop.
Watch the AWHS 1976 vintage "film".
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