Enliven Daily

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

(Editor’s Note – I recommend you read yesterday’s entry first as it gives some background on my town’s voting process.  Today is a continuation of that).

As I predicted in yesterday’s entry, my town’s School Deliberation Session was active last night as twice as many came out to discuss Articles for our schools just as they did the previous night for the Town ones.  The major discussion centers on building a new high school which as you would expect, carries a high cost and thus higher taxes for homeowners.  I am 100% in favor of this as our current high school is over 35 years old, falling apart and based on professional evaluations, it is not a wise or fiscally responsible Choice to renovate or expand it.

We tried in the past to get a new school passed and it has failed.  We are now at a critical point this year as our current high school is on accreditation warning from the state and a school that loses accreditation makes all graduates, past, present and future, lose credibility in their education.  In addition, this could be the last year we receive state funding to build in the form of a grant that could be worth over $13 million of basically free money.  There are still many that oppose this and although I respect their right to have this opinion, I have yet to hear any valid reasons that supports their argument to vote no.

I expected last night’s discussion to be heated but it was anything but.  Many of the opponents who have been quite vocal on the town message board and privately either did not show up or did not speak up.  Of those people who did speak against it, I understood why as their homes abut (next to) the space where the new school would be built.  They asked good questions and one guy, worried about potential future costs and traffic issues even told me he would be voting yes on this Article, he just wanted more answers and clarification.  Valid questions but as I told him privately, there will always be what-ifs and we need to have faith that they will be worked out.

It should be no surprise that I got up to speak in favor of the school.  This event was televised on our local cable channel and it is hard to gauge how many people watched it in addition to the 200 people in attendance.  We have about 9000 registered voters and need a 60% yes vote on those who come out to vote in March.  We average about a 35% voter turnout at elections so if 3500 people come out to vote, we need approximately 2100 of them to vote yes to get this school.  As I said last night, if we want this school, we must let our voices be heard and rally our friends & neighbors to exercise their right to vote.  We must also “Inspire First for Results to Follow” and show them how this investment will pay them back down the road as among other things, good schools raise property values. 

I truly believe that this endeavor is going to happen as it feels similar to what Scott Brown accomplished in Massachusetts last month.  Those that are passionate about this school are working hard and doing it the right way and despite a few rogues, are not engaging in the mudslinging and tactics like those against it.  We have another month to continue the momentum and fulfill the words of Margaret Mead in our opening quote.