To the Editors:
While I appreciate all of the players involved on all of our volunteer boards, the threat of cutting school sports and arts in order to achieve a reasonable budget concerns me. As someone who has served for seven years on the Board of Selectmen, I realize that providing the services we expect while holding the line when it comes to budgets and taxes is not simple. At the same time, I never saw a budget that I felt couldn’t be re-examined, and tightened to some degree, while maintaining services.
Growing up here in Wilton, I played ice hockey for the Warriors, and I have also worked as an actor professionally. I believe sports and the arts play an intrinsic part in the development of our youth; Wilton’s strengths in these areas played a pivotal role for my wife and me when we decided to raise our children here. Our hope is that these programs continue to grow, as our 7-year-old Wyatt and 5-year-old Lavelle grow.
I trust that our good, hard-working members of the Board of Education will find creative ways to mitigate budget increases while fostering our sports and arts programs. When our kids apply for jobs, regardless of the field they work in, they will most likely be asked to work with others as a creative member of a team to accomplish goals.
Finally, as an educator, I feel that sports and the arts are not secondary components of the school curriculum; they are primary components.
Ted Hoffstatter
Deer Run Road, March 28
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