To the editor,
Two buildings! From an old retired teacher in the district…what a wonderful world it would be for our students and entire staff. The sense of belonging, security and ownership. This is my school. This is our school.
Part of our ability to continue to provide excellent learning opportunities for our kids rests on the quality of their learning environment. Someone said to me a lot of good learning went on in a one room schoolhouse. Yes it did! All the more reason to get us down to two buildings; back to “We are One”.
The students in our district presently have four “new school” transitions in their K-12 school career. Our staff, whatever their job, works hard to make each transition as comfortable and unchallenging as possible. However, it is still another change and this is my school now, at least for a while.
Our history has been some combination of 4th, 5th and 6th graders who have been moved from building to building. When we were moved from Scranton to the Jefferson Elementary, one day a week for 20 minutes, my 4th graders went to what we called 1st Grade Readers. Watching and listening to these 4th graders and 1st graders interact and share their love for reading was incredible. It developed into friendships and role modeling roles that were tremendous for both ages.
Communicate, collaborate, continue to grow and learn. Passing this bond for these two facilities would ensure this district remains educationally strong. As it is, it lacks the ability to effectively build a sense of ownership important to student success. It is our money that will stay in our school district, be spent on our facilities and protect our children and investments.
I often heard at school I can’t do this. My response was I can’t do this yet. We can do this in September and change that YET to a YES! We have the opportunity to become a part of something great. Invest in the future of our school district and its most precious resource, our children.
Julie Karber, Jefferson
