Parent...Tax Payer...Educator...I wear many hats!

                It is a hard line to walk, being a parent of a child and a taxpayer to the same school system were you receive your paycheck. I have grown up in Knightstown most of my life and have a tremendous amount of pride in not only my community, but the communities that feed into our system. Some of my best friends came from Carthage and Kennard.

                 Our recent issues with funding WILL affect every student and community member in some shape or form. Difficult decisions have to be made and that is never easy. My advice to parents, in every CAB school is to get informed and involved. Instead of speaking with ONLY your emotions, do the research. What is the most educationally sound and financially effective choice? 

                If parents knew the inner workings of the education system (regulations, funding, the “ever so popular” school grading system), many would find that their points of argument do not have the best interest for children at heart. I have no feelings one way or another on which schools close based on community. Instead, my mind is reeling about what opportunities my children may or may not miss out on.  Are we going to be able to compete academically with surrounding schools?  Will my child’s education not be as well rounded because he or she cannot participate in clubs, sports or the arts due to program cutting?  When is cutting educators, which is cutting student to teacher ratio, educationally responsible?

                Merging schools has many benefits.  Pooling resources together is going to make ALL CAB students better able to compete academically with other quality schools. Do you want that for your child? I do!  You love your quality teachers and administrators… so do we.  What could be better than bringing all that knowledge and power together to educate the next generation of CAB students?  If any one building has the ability to contain all those resources, let’s use it.

                This is not a community against community battle… but rather, parents fighting for the best possible education for their children.  If we could offer that, how many that we educate, would grow up, and start a family of their own, then… make a conscious choice to bring that family to a community (Carthage, Kennard or Knightstown) that feeds into CAB schools?  How is that for community growth?