O’Connor, Geraghty Oppose Reiche Closing
“Some ideas don’t make sense – this is one of them.”
Portland School Superintendent Mary Jo O’Connor and West End City Councilor Karen Geraghty have both expressed strong opposition to a proposal by the School Committee’s Elementary School Task Force that the Reiche School be considered for closing as part of the City’s school consolidation plan.
At the Task Force’s meeting on February 8th, O’Connor said that Reiche was never on her radar for closing. She said that if the new East End School was more centrally located on the Portland peninsula, Reiche’s closing might be a consideration. But, she said, the peninsula should have schools both in the East End and the West End, despite the decrease in the number of students in the city.
Geraghty told members of the West End Neighborhood Association on the same night that the plan was “totally unsupportable and nonsensical”, that it had no support on the Portland City Council, and that it was not a good idea. “Some ideas don’t make sense – this is one of them,” said the City Councilor in whose district the school is located.