Eastbayri.com

To the editor:

I am the proud product of a public school education. I believe strongly in the impact schools have on a community and in the various communities we lived. I thrived in a public school setting and then went on to a liberal arts college that my years in a public high school prepared me for on every possible level.

I was lucky. 

My community and town government believed in the power and importance of our high school. Our high school served the needs of children of tobacco farmers, blue collar workers and middle to upper class doctors, lawyers and military. We covered all the multiculturals of life in a small southeastern town.  We celebrated wins, losses, successes and supported one another in the face of tragedies.

I can never remember a time when those who had “nothing to do” with our schools complained about paying taxes to keep the schools vibrant and alive.  Our town government saw the value of our school.  Those elected leaders recognized the role thriving schools play in developing a strong community base for growth and opportunity. Everyone knew the importance of a rich public school educationand no one complained about having to pay their share of taxes to keep our schools vibrant,empowered and competitive. 

Tiverton is not so lucky.

The current TCC/Town Council members are feverishly trying to stack the deck against not only the school committee but our schools as a whole. Simply because certain members are not invested (or interested) in the schools and don’t want to pay their share of taxes does not mean it is their right to make it impossible for the schools to thrive. They do not have the authority to keep pumping in negative energy and hours of wasted time and money to prove a point. 

As a community, we should question the very nature of what this says about our elected leaders. At the very least, we, as taxpayers and parents, should look carefully at the agenda of those who want to do away with the high school and two elementary schools, do away with upgrades, and continue to spend taxpayer money on a legal battle for funds that have already been decided.  I’d rather my money go where it was (and is) intended to go — to the schools. Do any of the TCC/Council members who oppose our schools even know what our schools do to enrich the lives of the thousands of students who attend? No, I would guess not.

If paying your share of taxes is so against principle in Tiverton, then move. Find a community in the next 50-100 mile radius that does not have a school. Not one. See how that town is thriving.  Better yet, find your island and see how that works for you. Or maybe, just  maybe, follow the guidelines of Warren Buffet who feels a public school education is where tax money should be spent. 

I call on every parent to challenge the members of the TCC/Town Council to end the battle against our schools, give back the nearly half-million dollars to where it legally belongs and stop spending our tax money on legal fees. And please, please think about what their actions say about who they are as individuals. 

Gloria Crist

Tiverton