Guest Column
By Michael R. Drahos, Morrisville-Eaton Superintendent of Schools
(Town of Eaton, NY – March 2015) At 6:30 p.m. March 26 Morrisville-Eaton parents, students, teachers, staff, Board of Education members, administrators, and community members came together to support our public school system and to say “no” to outside political and corporate interests that are driving decisions that are not in our kids’ interest.
The PTO-sponsored event was a visual sign that we love our amazing kids and will stand up to these negative forces. Our learning community is very appreciative that Senator [David] Valesky sent a representative from his staff to our event while he advocates for us in Albany.
This event was part of a statewide campaign to promote unity amongst parents, teachers, students, administrators, and other members of our communities. The idea was to gather stakeholders at participating schools to join hands in a symbolic gesture of protection. The need to protect our schools has never been more urgent. We are concerned that Governor [Andrew] Cuomo continues to paint public schools and teachers in a negative light in an attempt to centralize power and strip away local control all while failing to provide adequate and fair funding.
As we know, local schools are under threat due to excessive testing, teacher evaluations tied to test scores, lack of funding, charter school expansion, privatization, school closings, and state takeover of our schools are some of the many concerns shared by stakeholders.
Seeing stakeholders unite to literally circle their schools sends a strong and powerful message to Albany that community members support their public schools. Many of those who attended posted, through social media using the hashtag #protectourschools.
In the end this noncontroversial demonstration was a much-needed positive outlet for all stakeholders in our schools’ communities.