BCAT News

The following is a letter to the editor and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of BNEWS. 

While there is much going on in our world, I believe that empathy seems to have all but disappeared from our society. Before we cast our votes next weekend as to whether or not to move ahead with a new high school, please consider those who are in the school building on a daily basis. If you are able to do so, please tour the school or ask a current student or teacher their perspective of the project. Ask yourself if you would be willing to be “in their shoes.”

Would you be content working in a room without any windows for year after year after year? Would you be comfortable in a building without a fire suppression system? Would you be satisfied in a career working with 50-year-old equipment and outdated resources? Would you be happy knowing that your friend with mobility issues is made to feel less than equal? How would you feel if life were to change and you found yourself needing mobility assistance and told you could just figure it out?

We want to attract and keep qualified teachers who are dedicated to giving our children the best opportunities possible, but we are asking them to do it in far from ideal circumstances. Yes, our teachers can do the work, but why can’t we give them the tools to make their lives easier? With all of the other new high schools in our area, what is stopping them from moving on to a better work environment? There’s already a teacher shortage and we could be opening ourselves up to increasing that gap.

Only five short years ago, we relied on our teachers to reinvent our educational system with absolutely no notice or guidance. They experimented with ways to keep our children engaged and educated when nobody else could. We realized that teachers accomplish far more than sharing knowledge with our children, not just during a global pandemic but every single day of every single year (and many of us also realized that home schooling was a terrible idea).

Teachers see our children as their own, wanting them to succeed, wanting them to explore, wanting them to be the best they can be. We treated teachers as superheroes, as they were. They were able to accomplish the impossible when the world shut down. They still now accomplish the near-impossible now with lock-down drills, virtual bullying, artificial intelligence and a plethora of other complications that we never needed to face when we were high school students.

Now, we are telling these superheroes that they don’t deserve our help. They don’t need proper resources. They can manage with what they have since what they have is “good enough.”

How successful can our children be when they do not have functioning classrooms and labs? How successful can they be when they face leaky ceilings and flooded stairwells? How successful can they be without access to natural light? How can they remain motivated to achieve their greatest potential when we tell them they’re not worth the money?

Past generations have always wanted their children to have more than what they had. We all want our children to be healthy – physically, emotionally, intellectually, and socially. We want to give them the competitive edge in a competitive world. Why now are we willing to settle for “good enough.”

Do I want my taxes raised? No. However, if not now, when? Will our taxes not be raised by waiting a few more years to begin this project? How long are we willing to accept that our teachers and our children can settle for “good enough”?

I hope you join me in voting “yes” to continue with the plan for a new high school. I’m willing to show my children, their peers, and their teachers that I am not willing to settle for “good enough.”

Sincerely,
Linda McNamee
Precinct 5