Writers urge voters to support school

Vox Pop

Thanks to all the administrators, school board members, and maintenance staff through the years, our high school continues to look great from the outside. The outside of the building may not look 50 years old, but once you start digging deeper, many things do not look as good as they seem. We are reminded, this is the school that provided quality education to much larger classes in the past than we have today. Therefore many feel there isn’t a need to make changes.

Yes, the present school did meet the educational needs of many students throughout the years. We should all be thankful the people in the 1960’s made the sacrifice to pass a referendum to build it. But do we still have the same lifestyle we had in 1968? There were no microwaves, cell phones, digital cameras, GPS’s, computers, internet, etc. Four wheel drive vehicles were rare and UTV’s didn’t exist. There were party line phones and long distance calls were expensive. TV was limited to 3 channels with a rotating screen. The milking pipeline was just becoming popular. Knee and hip replacements, open heart surgeries, pace makers, laser eye surgery, and MRI’s were basically unheard of.

Our lives look much different today. The education of our children needs to look different also. We want our students to be ready for tomorrow. Traditional classrooms from the late 1900’s are not enough to prepare our children for future careers. Education has drastically changed even in the last 20 years. Classrooms of today need to look and be different. Safety concerns were not what they are today. We want to feel safe sending our children to school and not having to worry about our child’s safety. In the world that we live in today this is a very real concern.

Majority of people do not have the same lifestyle from 1968 and do not see doctors who practice pre-1970 medicine. Education has provided us with many opportunities. We beg you to seriously consider the educational needs of our children, your community, and the future for all of us. We all benefit from advancements in education. Would you be willing to forgo a night out to eat with your family once a year to help support our community? Please vote yes for the referendum on April 6th and invest in our future.

— Erin Meyer, Jen Meyer, Rachel Hackel, Dustin Mabie, and Teeney and Patrick Beidel all of Medford.