Students, Teachers Deserve a New School
My kindergarten son attends Coffin School and his classroom is one of the portable units that are a point of concern regarding Coffin school’s aging infrastructure.
In the first few weeks of school, I asked my son what he thought about going to school in his “cottage.” He gave me a big smile and said “I like it, Mommy, because Mrs. Lucas makes sure we have everything we need out there!”
Out of the mouth of a babe comes a clear truth about Coffin school. The shining stars of Coffin are not the buildings, but the amazing teachers, administrators and staff that make that school such a special place. Our son’s kindergarten year has been nothing short of amazing because of the people within the buildings.
In our current political climate, our public schools are not getting the support they deserve. Recent federal decisions support privatization of one of America’s greatest public institutions. In addition, Gov. LePage is, again, pushing through a budget that further cuts state funding to schools, putting more and more responsibility on the local governances to keep their schools in good repair and their teachers well supported.
I urge all residents of Brunswick to vote to pass the school budget and to authorize the bond to fund a new elementary school. In doing so, we will be showing our teachers, administrators and staff that we support them, no matter what goes on outside the town limits of Brunswick.
Callie McMahon,
Brunswick
Support a New School — for our Future Leaders
One of the arguments I have heard from those opposed to both the budget and funding a new school is, “But I don’t use the schools” or “I don’t have children.” While I can empathize with paying for something that one might feel they have no return on investment for, I would like to frame the argument from a different angle.
I would ask of those individuals, were you educated in a public school system? In the last several years, only about 12 percent of school aged children in Maine were homeschooled or attended private school. That means the overwhelming majority of adults benefited from a public school education.
By funding a public school system, the return on investment for all of us comes from supporting our children and providing them with safe, healthy facilities staffed with dedicated, compassionate, and competent adults in which to learn, grow, and prosper. They are the future, regardless if any of them call us “Mom” or “Dad.”
They will be the future leaders in government, from Brunswick to Washington, D.C. They will be the future medical providers, scientists, engineers, educators, builders, entrepreneurs, small business owners and service industry leaders upon whom we will all lean as we age into our later years. I am currently 40 years old. Every two weeks, a portion of my earnings is deducted for contributions to Medicare and Social Security, neither of which I currently use and the survival of both programs over the next 25 years until I am eligible to receive benefits from ether is anything but certain. Does this mean I should stop contributing?
Coffin School currently does not meet standard building codes for structure, plumbing, or electrical, and is riddled with asbestos.
“Temporary” outbuildings have been classrooms and libraries for 50 years. Does that sound like the type of building any of us would want to live in? Then why would we send our youngest residents and those who would help them grow into curious, informed, and involved adults there every day? I am voting “Yes” for an investment in the future.
Shawn McMahon
Brunswick
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