Only One

I wanna pour my heart out so you'll understand and yet I don't really wanna dump on you cause it won't change anything. Unless you have an extra 6 million dollars just sitting around, in which case I will be HAPPY to pour my heart out and then ask you to give that money to my school district so that we don't have to cut 35 teachers and 15 school days. I am very grateful that during the (SEVEN HOUR) school board meeting last night the decision was made to proceed with the Spanish Immersion program though. Someone asked me on Face book what other program got cut so that my daughter could keep hers and I am equally grateful to be able to answer NONE! I honestly can't say what I would want if it came down to a choice between my child's program and another program in the district. I don't believe anyone would truly feel good about saying, my child's language education is more important than your child's music/art/science/writing/speech/whatever program. The S.I. program was the only one even being considered for elimination and it wouldn't have saved the district any money via elimination which is why I believe they finally came to the conclusion that they did. It probably didn't hurt that as a group of parents we're very dedicated to our children and we mobilized quickly, thoughtfully, professionally and creatively to offer alternative funding choices and make our concerns clear. This experience has certainly taught me about the power a group of dedicated and motivated people can have. My mom has a sign up on her wall- a quote from Helen Keller “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.” I'm going to remember that quote while I go forward and I'm going to remember that if enough 'only ones' come together, we'll no longer be 'only one' and our voice will be loud. Then we can take our loud powerful voice to the State Capital and demand that they put education first! Our children are our future and if we don't all wanna end up in yucky nursing homes then we'd better start investing in our future now.