The New York State budget is a mess and Schools Districts are toppling.
Warwick has teetered on the fiscal edge for years and we are falling.
Hard.
One of our grammar schools closed two years ago.
Now we need to close another, and even that won't "close" the budget gap.
But to lose the historic school in the heart of the Village seems short sighted.
How can you have a community without a school?
How do you think about the future of a Village without educational services?
My hubby and his little brother went to school at Park Ave in the 70s with a host of other now Park Ave parents who's kiddos attend. The school is on it's 5th generation of attendees within the same community families...
My nieces and nephews attended.
My kids attend now.
And while that is all very sweet, the bottom line is this...
How do you have a Village without a school?
How does a place feel like a community without the cultivation of our youth within the sturdy arms of the Village that has held them, taught them and encouraged them?
And the recommendation to the School Board are leaning toward closing this school among the three grammar schools still open in the district...
So we show our kids how to speak up for themselves;
we encourage them to ask for what they want in a polite fashion.
We remind them about the concept of "free speech" they've learned about.
And we tell them we hope that good sense should prevail.
And at the same time, we prepare them for disappointment, confusion and... without sounding too heavy-handed, the demise of a pillar of the community.
No more walking to school?
No more walking to the park after school?
No more walking to Main Street for ice cream?
No more walking to the library?
No more waving to the old folks on the benches across the street from school?
No more driving by the playground on the way to the grocery store and spotting your kid in his red hat?
No more learning in the Village.
No more?
Not necessarily....there is still time for the value of education within a community to be noted.
So speak up. Be heard.
And show how you feel in deeds, words and good choices.
You are not alone...
....
xo Jen
6 comments:
Oh my goodness, is this Warwick, NY, in Orange County???? My parents lived there and I love that area and long to move there someday. This is just awful. Why don't you get in touch with all the Wall Street folks and bankers and send them a bill in order to keep our schools open. This just makes me so mad and sad at the same time. Thanks for this post.
yes Warwick, NY -- a great town but it soon might be a Village with no school...
Jen, I am so confused because I thought you were located in Sanford Florida and this post indicates that you are in Warwick. My daughter and I are in a gated community in Lithia, just east of Tampa. My mom (Rose) is buried in the cemetery near the little Catholic Church in Pine Island, but mom and dad lived just outside the village and they loved it so ... so did I when I visited them each and every year. I remember taking my little girl (at the time) to the park in the village near a stream enclosed with a chain link fence ... oh, how I love this little village and I really hope that someday I will be able to move there. You know, things are really bad economically in our country and the media just pretends that everybody is just honky dory. But, we will overcome all and carry on. Thanks so much for this post.
Happiness always,
Jan
I would leave a comment but they need to be approved by the blogger.
Jan -- thanks for your sweet note...I love hearing about your family. We did an event in Sanford -- we do events all over the country -- and i understand your confusion -- so glad we both love Warwick...be well xoxox Jen
A NOTE to the person/persons looking to comment on my kids school: this is not a public forum and I do not publish negative commentary or comments that have name calling or are insulting to me. This BLOG is merely my personal forum for my opinion. My opinion is that NO school should have to close. Thanks so much for reading. Jen
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