Supporting schools is the right thing to do

When I was growing up, my parents taught me, each in their own way since they were divorced (and rarely agreed on anything), that life’s doors remain open or are closed as a result of your actions. Of course, as a kid, you never really think about that but as you get older and hopefully wiser, it really is true.

I passed this on to my own kids and emphasized that the more doors you have open in life, the more opportunities you have.

As such, I am a firm believer that an education can be the creator and opener of many doors. It’s imperative that we continue to support education and with that, pass the schools levy on March 10.

Successful schools are a reflection on our community. It says we believe that our kids are important and that we are going to assure they have as many open doors in their futures, as possible.

Think about when you may have moved here. If you had school-age children, you made a conscious decision to locate where there were quality schools. You may have even asked about a specific elementary school within the district.

Quality schools allow us to attract quality employees and professionals such as doctors, dentists, lawyers, even teachers. When companies look to locate to an area they look at the quality of the school systems because it can be a big driver in attracting quality employees.

With that comes stability in home prices. Going back to my example, when you locate to an area you look for the quality of the education system and with that, home values can be impacted. Lower quality schools, in my humble opinion, have a direct correlation to lower property values and less living-wage jobs.

There will be detractors that say the district spends too much money, or I don’t agree with a decision they made such as changes in the lunch program at a school. You have options and my first suggestion would be to get involved. It amazes me how many parents are willing to complain from the cheap seats but are rarely seen at school other than for an obligatory parent-teacher conference. Cheap-seat comments are great for closing doors for your child.

If you really are involved and have concerns, echo them to the school board or better yet, run for the school board. I can’t think of a more difficult scenario for any elected official than steering a school system with a tax-based model on fluctuating enrollment numbers with the leaps of technological change that require our kids to learn more, faster.

So do your kids a favor, keep those doors of life open. As we tell our own kids, the decisions you make today will have consequences of open or closed doors later in life.

JIM McKIERNAN

Publisher