Several local parents are debating whether to pull out of the Anderson Community Schools district rather than face the merging of Highland and Anderson high schools. They want to take the Highland building, along with Killbuck and Valley Grove elementary schools, and secede from the district.
They oppose the current plan to address budget shortfalls: Highland students are to go to Anderson High School. Highland will become a middle school for grades 7-9. Four elementary schools, including Killbuck and Valley Grove, will close.
This group of dissenters is discussing the formation of a new school system to cover Union and Richland townships and a portion of southeast Lafayette Township.
The proposed secession should never take place.
It teaches the wrong lesson to youth and can do nothing but raise taxes for the dissenters.
The talk of forming a new district is based on the anger and frustration of losing proud Highland High School and having it absorbed into Anderson High School. About 400 people showed interest in making the break by attending a meeting Thursday night at Bethany Christian Church, hosted by the newly formed Madison County School Alliance.
At the same time Thursday, across the street at Highland High School, Anderson Community Schools Superintendent Felix Chow held a meeting to explain the consolidation. Chow hoped his appearance would tell naysayers “that Anderson schools are not so bad a place to be.” But only 40 were in the audience.
Anger is apparently a bigger draw than reason.
That message is one that should never be passed down to students.
The emotion being shown by Highland parents can be powerful. But this passion should be channeled into positive energy that reinforces life lessons to youth to understand the realities of school budgets, tight economic times and how to accept change.
Parents must think of the future of their actions, well beyond the start of the next school year. How will the current anger impact future students who have not yet experienced the pride of a high school championship or the bonds with the community? Those glorious days are still ahead for younger students, hopefully unified in one middle school and one high school.
While talk about leading the charge — inside the confines of a church room — to create a new and better school system is thought-provoking, the realities are harsh. Financing the new school system would involve creating a new taxing structure to find new funding to pay the salary of administrators, to pay for maintenance and to fund capital project costs. Contracts with teachers would have to be renegotiated, as well.
This is a daunting, costly project. Taxes will go up for these parents, as well as non-parents.
Folks supporting the Madison County School Alliance have community pride. That pride should be transferred in a positive, instructive manner to our community’s youth.
Editorials
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