|
|
|
Herkimer, N.Y. —
Hundreds of residents of the communities affected by a proposed four-school merger have attended informational meetings and town-hall style question and answer sessions.
And while these have given them a forum to get information, ask questions and make their feelings known, residents have also turned to the Internet as a virtual forum to discuss the merger.
Herkimer resident Marcus Boehm is one of those using the Internet to express his opinion and generate discussion. Boehm, 39, purchased the website, www.herkimermerger.com, on Sept. 25 of this year — before the merger study was even approved by the state.
He posted anonymously on the site under the heading, “Some Herkimer Residents May Be Against School Merger.”
While Boehm is one of those residents, he chose to remain anonymous because the merger is such a divisive issue. “It’s not for notoriety,” he said. “I just wanted to bring those problems up there.”
In the post, Boehm voiced his concerns about the impact the proposed four school merger would have on the village of Herkimer.
“More should be talked about the impact of the community itself,” he said. “There’s so many different things to think about beyond the parents that have kids that go to school.”
Boehm said he created the website to encourage Herkimer residents to look at all sides of the issue.
“The website was mostly to give people points to think about,” he said.
From his website, he referred readers to a thread on Herkimer Topix — “Against School Merger” — to voice their own opinions and read the opinions of others.
The thread, which had over 400 posts as of Friday evening, received steady traffic for over two months. Posters on the thread expressed their reasons for supporting and voting against the merger.
Another online discussion is occurring in a Facebook group named the “Herkimer, Mohawk, Ilion, Frankfort Merger Discussion Group.” The group had 338 members as of Friday evening and hundreds of comments.
In addition to those sites generated by residents, school districts are using the Internet to disseminate information and answer questions.
Cuyle Rockwell, communications specialist for the Ilion Central School Distinct, said he’s been working to create a “reservoir of information” on the school’s website.
That resource includes a summary of all meetings that have occurred to date, answers to questions posed at the public meetings or online and information about upcoming events.
Rockwell, who has been tracking the website with Google Analytics (a program that counts the number of hits a website receives), called interest in the website “moderate.”
However, he said, he believes as the vote nears, residents will be “scrounging for information.”
“I still feel that there’s an awful lot of education that needs to take place before people can make an informed decision,” he said.
While the Internet is one tool for residents to discuss and learn about the school merger, Rockwell emphasized that it is just one piece of the puzzle.
“The Internet is only to supplement other means of conversation,” he said.
School officials are making themselves available to area residents and the media, he said.
Written information will be mailed out, Rockwell said.
“The bottom line is for people to be able to vote on this, they need information,” he said. “There will be more than enough rumor, more than enough misinformation.”
Hundreds of residents of the communities affected by a proposed four-school merger have attended informational meetings and town-hall style question and answer sessions.
And while these have given them a forum to get information, ask questions and make their feelings known, residents have also turned to the Internet as a virtual forum to discuss the merger.
Herkimer resident Marcus Boehm is one of those using the Internet to express his opinion and generate discussion. Boehm, 39, purchased the website, www.herkimermerger.com, on Sept. 25 of this year — before the merger study was even approved by the state.
He posted anonymously on the site under the heading, “Some Herkimer Residents May Be Against School Merger.”
While Boehm is one of those residents, he chose to remain anonymous because the merger is such a divisive issue. “It’s not for notoriety,” he said. “I just wanted to bring those problems up there.”
In the post, Boehm voiced his concerns about the impact the proposed four school merger would have on the village of Herkimer.
“More should be talked about the impact of the community itself,” he said. “There’s so many different things to think about beyond the parents that have kids that go to school.”
Boehm said he created the website to encourage Herkimer residents to look at all sides of the issue.
“The website was mostly to give people points to think about,” he said.
From his website, he referred readers to a thread on Herkimer Topix — “Against School Merger” — to voice their own opinions and read the opinions of others.
The thread, which had over 400 posts as of Friday evening, received steady traffic for over two months. Posters on the thread expressed their reasons for supporting and voting against the merger.
Another online discussion is occurring in a Facebook group named the “Herkimer, Mohawk, Ilion, Frankfort Merger Discussion Group.” The group had 338 members as of Friday evening and hundreds of comments.
In addition to those sites generated by residents, school districts are using the Internet to disseminate information and answer questions.
Cuyle Rockwell, communications specialist for the Ilion Central School Distinct, said he’s been working to create a “reservoir of information” on the school’s website.
That resource includes a summary of all meetings that have occurred to date, answers to questions posed at the public meetings or online and information about upcoming events.
Rockwell, who has been tracking the website with Google Analytics (a program that counts the number of hits a website receives), called interest in the website “moderate.”
However, he said, he believes as the vote nears, residents will be “scrounging for information.”
“I still feel that there’s an awful lot of education that needs to take place before people can make an informed decision,” he said.
While the Internet is one tool for residents to discuss and learn about the school merger, Rockwell emphasized that it is just one piece of the puzzle.
“The Internet is only to supplement other means of conversation,” he said.
School officials are making themselves available to area residents and the media, he said.
Written information will be mailed out, Rockwell said.
“The bottom line is for people to be able to vote on this, they need information,” he said. “There will be more than enough rumor, more than enough misinformation.”
