The Real Choice this Tuesday

What type of community are we?

The citizens of Rockwood School District face several choices this coming Tuesday, April 2.  Among other ballot issues, there are two that are related to our public schools. One is to decide among the various candidates for school board and the second is whether or not we should approve Rockwood’s Proposition S (No Tax Increase Bond: “Safety, Schools and Students”).

While the board and bond votes are important, a parallel issue has surfaced, one that speaks to the community's wholesome support for fairness, and the honest discussion we normally accord one another. 

You see, this vote is about more than who gets to commit themselves to hundreds of hours of unpaid and stressful work while subjecting themselves and their families to merciless and unrelenting attacks on their personal character and professional reputations when this or that interest group is not appeased. It’s about more than whether to vote Yes or No for the $38.4 million dollar no-tax bond that some informed voters consider absolutely critical.

This real choice, the one that is “under the surface”, will reach inside us much deeper, and will have a much more significant and meaningful impact going forward than our 2013 selections for school board and the bond.  The choice that is under the surface is one that really matters and that represents the manner in which we form and voice our collective opinions.

This choice will not be found anywhere on the ballot.  Instead, it will only be found in our minds, our hearts and our souls.

It’s a simple choice really.

What type of community are we?

Yes, it is a simple choice, but to respond to it properly, we must dig in a little deeper by asking a few more questions.

Do we understand that we are privileged to be in one of the very best school districts in the country?

Do we consider our schools to be the heart and lifeblood of our community and do we support them accordingly?

Do we understand that the very best investment we can make is to educate all of the children in our communities, even if we don’t have any of our own currently in school? 

Do we understand that schools that are supported by the community increase property values for everyone, and not just those whom have kids in school?

Do we allow an unelected, self-appointed, organized, and apparently well-funded group (from whom?) to repeatedly attack our great schools and our school leaders in the media?

Do we support our unpaid volunteer leaders, elected or otherwise, or the one that persecutes them?  If they leave, who will replace them? Would you?  Will the next leaders feel free to follow their conscience, or instead follow the path that avoids personal attacks?

Do we consider the “whole picture” and not just the distorted claims of a few that seem to be on a mission to manipulate information, actively working through the media to attack the integrity of our leaders because of a need for attention?

Do we set a positive example for our kids when adults talk to and about people in leadership roles in such a negative, public, media driven way? Are we not supposed to show them how to look for ways to problem solve together?  

Do we let trained, experienced, competent and professional administrators to be “run out of town” based on the misunderstandings of a few people that have no relevant training or expertise, however well-intentioned they may be?  Who will be the next expert to be run out town because we don’t understand the complexity of the decisions that must be made?

We don’t claim to speak for everyone, but we can tell you that the majority of people we know from Rockwood know how to answer these questions.

No one is suggesting we need to all agree, but in a successful community there is the desire and will to move toward the same goals.  In all professions, we rely on those that have the background, experience, education to make decisions or provide advisement based on data and expertise.   Our community needs to be reminded there are unintended consequences as well as purposeful consequences when we choose to apathetically move through each day.  

Make Tuesday, April 2 the day you choose to do something for yourself, for your community and the children that are about to be your future.  

Vote Yes on Prop S and look for ways to understand the expertise that is the best way to provide for our future, the educational and property value needs of our community.

What type of community are we? 

WE ARE ROCKWOOD!

Authored by:  Larry Lazar, Kim McGuiness, Artie Romero and Janelle Worley