These were my words tonight spoken from my heart:
I will be entering my 50th
year of education in August and in May I made a statement that a decision to
vote about graduation was the hardest decision I ever had to make. I never realized then that I might have to
make a decision that could possibly be a matter of life or death.
I spent 38 years of my life in a
school setting—17 years as a teacher and 21 years as an elementary
principal. I love working with children,
educators, and parents. I loved getting
hugs and interacting with people. To
this day, I. am still in contact with many former students, parents, and
educators and I value that connection so very much. It means more to me than
words can express. Nothing can replace the community that is
built in individual classrooms and in schools.
I will always believe that is the
best education that a child can get.
They need to learn much more than just our curriculum. They need to be able to find out how to solve
problems with others, how to play, how to face failure and how much our
educators care about them. They (and I)
need hugs. And I know that not being at
school can hurt our children’s mental health.
I totally understand that. But I
would rather deal with those issues down the road than deal with death.
When I ran for the Board, I knew
that there would be times that I would have to make a decision that I may not
totally believe in but that I knew that it was most important to this community
that I love. I have chosen to live and work in Gilbert and sometimes a decision
is made because that is what the people want. This is very different because
this could be a life or death decision. I am saddened that this has become
political. There is absolutely nothing
political in what I am saying right now. It is about the value of the lives of
our children, families, parents and community that I care deeply about.
I have many memories of growing
up in Douglas. Most of them are
extremely positive. But there are two that have always stood out to me, now
more than ever. I remember when polio
was rampant and we couldn’t go to the public pool in the summer. I remember a
very prominent doctor whose daughter had polio and was in an iron lung. They
would bring her to Sunday Mass and I can still hear the iron lung breathing for
her. She later died. I remember when a vaccine came out and how happy everyone
was. I also remember when I was in third grade. My grandmother died in
November. Shortly after, my teacher,
Sister Beatrice Ann died suddenly. She had been my first grade teacher and then
was my third grade teacher. It was devastating as a child to lose my
teacher. I don’t want to ever put a
child through this.
With that being said, I know that
I can’t and won’t make a decision that could cause even one person to die. I
truly understand that going back to our schools is what is needed but that was
before this horrible virus exploded in our world. Throughout my career and life, I have felt
the loss of students, parents, and co-workers. I have done more than my share
of eulogies for people who I have cared deeply about. It
was devastating to say the least. But a
decision I made did not cause any death. I have been told that children can de in a bus
accident or on a field trip that we have approved. I understand that, but that is an
accident. This, to me, is completely
different. We are in uncharted waters
dealing with a health risk that we have never seen in our lifetime.
I know that tonight’s vote is
only to approve the possibility of three ways in which we can go back in
August. As we all know, there are many variables that can happen
between now and August 5th through the 17th with the
Governor’s Executive Order. I also feel strongly that things have changed
drastically since we did the first surveys. I absolutely believe that we need to follow
science and metrics. I can only hope and
pray that the trend we are seeing now, doesn’t continue. And I respect the varying opinions of the
different scientists and professional organizations. And that is just it, there are so many
varying opinions on what is safe and not safe.
Please know that these words come
from my heart and my heart has always been with our children, our families, and
our educators. It has been my life and that is why I continue to do what I do
when I could just be retired! I love GPS
and I love being a GPS Board Member. I have been so blessed in my life to be
able to serve this wonderful community at so many different levels.
