LETTER TO THE EDITOR : Why should Saint Paul residents vote for a millage increase and help support Huntsville School District?
Posted on Thursday, September 6, 2007
I have been teaching and coaching at St. Paul school for nine years. As a teacher, there really is no comparison to the way things are now and the way things used to be done. For example, our school test scores have continually gone up and more importantly the students'pride in their school has shot through the roof. Instead of hearing from my students," We are from Saint Paul, how do you expect us to know that ? ", I hear from them," We are better than the other students from other schools. "At Saint Paul, now it does not matter what your last name is, everyone must follow the same set of rules. When I started teaching special education at Saint Paul, which I was not certified in and had no training in special education, good teachers only stayed a year and then when they left very few applicants applied to fill that spot. For ten years they had a new boy's basketball coach each year. Very few good teachers or coaches would stay and most did not have anything good to say about their time at Saint Paul. Now coaches and teachers from all over would love to have a job at Saint Paul. Why not ? Look at the campus and all of the improvements that have been made and the many more still in the works. Then compare our situation to the other small consolidated schools, many of which are shut down. There is not one small consolidated school that has received as much support as we have. Just ask the residents of Winslow and even Kingston if their district has even done a fraction of what Huntsville has done for our students or spent on our campus. I own property in both those districts, and each of them had significant millage increases and received little in return. Then try to find a better small school in the state of Arkansas that is heading in the direction we are going. We have a school that has pride, good teachers, good faculty, good students, and a district that has given us all the tools we need to succeed.
Lastly for those of you who think that our campus is going to close if a new high school is built, you need to listen closer. This year our school will break even on income and expenses. The millage increase will put us that much more in the positive territory and make us that much more an asset to the Huntsville District.
After considering all the facts, I hope that people realize when they ask what the increase will do for them, they will see what the district has already done for our students. Yes, I teach at school, but I also own real estate, and it will cost me as much or more than most. However, I know there are those who like to spread poison about the consolidation with Huntsville, but those were the same folks who spread poison about the school before consolidation.
Coach
Michael McNamara
FEEDBACK:
Something to say about this topic? Submit a Letter to the Editor online