Buying into Education
Jefferson County is in that time of flux and it can be a wonderful break from all of the politicking and upheaval. This is the time of choice for everyone that lives in our beautiful area. Will we continue to be what we have been or will we stretch a little and try to re-prioritize our value lists?
I find it a bit scary that there is an underground movement to influence parents to forgo paying school fees. Certainly, it is an expensive time of year and not every family can scrape up the extra cash, but those that can, should. If parents will not support our student’s educational endeavors, how can we expect our politicians to support education? Education is not what happens in a building program or a Board meeting-education is what happens in the classroom and it is important. As intelligent people, we should be able to separate any feelings we have about the former and focus on the latter. It is in the classroom that our youngest citizens will find the world. They will learn to read and experience. They will learn to cooperate and problem solve. They will grow into citizens that will work and raise families and contribute to our community. Or they won’t.
Education is a community effort and a community problem. And it should be a community priority. It starts with a refusal to pay classroom fees that amount to less than a family trip to McDonalds and ends with a political atmosphere that does serious damage to our community. Education, at its best, provides an educated community. While we all know that education is not always at its best, it is still the best boat we have to float.
Do you have to pay school fees? No. Sure, the Kleenex will run out and some of the kids will do without pencils and paper. And the teacher, she will just pull more out of her pocket for the ice cream money that was forgotten or never existed and the hand sanitizer that runs out right around flu season. But what is lost is much more than fifteen or twenty bucks. What is lost is the spirit of support of education and sometimes that support is all that stands between success and failure.
We are starting a brand new year. We have a new governing body and another chance to get it right. It isn’t often in life that we get a fresh start and it would be a shame to waste it on old battles already fought and won or lost. Education is not perfect. It wasn’t perfect when I was in school and it wasn’t perfect when you were in school but it formed our generations and we aren’t doing so badly, now are we? Support does not mean blindly agreeing or following, it means an involved presence. School fees are not mandated and they shouldn’t be. They are a part of an annual buy in to education and the cost is minimal. The reward, however, can be without measure. As returns on an investment goes, it seems like a good one.
