This week we all need to ask ourselves some tough questions. As a community we will decide if we still value the Birch Grove School (BGCS).
Does this school contribute to our quality of life? For me this is not a question. Not now and never has been. Three generations of my family have attended BGCS.
Now, my daughter is enrolled in the Saplings program. I wish you could see her talk about “her” school, the best place in her little world. I’m proud to see the next generation of my family inherit this asset and the traditions those before me have worked so hard to preserve. The price of keeping high quality programming in our small town is a constant fundraising effort.
I consider myself lucky to be a voice for the current families and children and the future generations. We the parents of BGCS are working, contributing taxpayers, business owners, professionals and volunteers in your community. I know many members of the older generations had the privilege of raising your families here. Please give us the same opportunity while keeping our kids close to work and home.
Families need security, and with additional support from the townships, BGCS will be able to ensure families, staff and the community members that this school will be available when new families want to relocate to this area. In a place where young people are an endangered species I would like to think that’s important.
If you want families in your towns you need to create a habitat for them, and at the center of it… a school… this school. So please stop before you vote on March 10th and forget about dollar signs instead think of quality of life. Not our lives as parents but the kids of the West End.
Lynda, Cullen, Jack and Wyle deserve the same quality of life as the children of the past. These four kids live in Tofte and attend the programs at BGCS. Do any of you want to tell them you chose to save $1 or $2 a month and voted against “their” school? If you think it’s worth breaking a heart I know mine won’t be the only one.
Sarah Somnis
Birch Grove student, parent
and school board member
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