Important topics
Dear Editor:
By the time this week’s paper is published, Election Day will be over. Whether I’m elected or not, I believe the competitive race for school board has brought community awareness and focus to our schools, and to our students.
This is a good thing. They both deserve the attention of our community. After all, today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders. Our nation’s future depends on parents, teachers, and community members working together to help students be prepared for the life ahead of them. We have a good school, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues we need to tackle. Our poor math proficiency scores and declining academic achievement scores need to be improved. We must have consistent and meaningful consequences for bullying and unacceptable behavior at school (and on the bus ride home).
We need to be able to differentiate between teaching, and indoctrination. Mental health issues such as: suicidal thoughts, depression, and gender dysphoria, need to be handled with wisdom and caution by both trained counselors and parents. Parents need to have easy pathways to be informed and involved in the education of their children.
These are just some of the important topics I hope our new school board will remember. I’ll close by thanking all the school board candidates for their time and willingness to serve in an unpaid and often thankless position. Thanks also to the parents, teachers, administrators, and community members who cared enough to show up at events where these issues were discussed.
Michael Liu
Twisp
