River View making plans to tackle challenges
You can’t help but notice that the world is moving pretty fast nowadays. It won’t be long before technology makes workplaces and colleges unrecognizable to many of us. The challenge our schools face is making sure our students can keep up. Today, they need to master an entirely different set of skills—along with the “three R’s.” If our students are going be ready for life after graduation, we need to think ahead. Right now our schools are facing some very serious issues, but we have a plan to address them.
The first thing we have to do is to make sure our schools can operate. Our school board recently voted to place a renewal of our current operating levy on the ballot this November. This renewal does not raise taxes. It helps provide updated textbooks our students need, keeps our heat and electricity on, and keeps our programs running. It’s critical for our schools.
Once we have that out of the way, we are going to have to do something about our buildings. I appreciate their history and character as much as anybody, but right now they are draining our resources and holding us back. They are outdated and inefficient, and many of them present significant health and safety hazards. Our kids and our community need something better.
Especially considering our declining enrollment, we cannot continue on this path for long. It is too expensive, and it simply won’t work. The problems and costs that come with our current buildings will not go away on their own—they are only going to get worse. It is up to us to find a solution that works.
Over the coming months, you’re going to be hearing a lot from us. We have a lot to do in a very short time period, and it is important that we are up-front and honest with our residents. We want to make sure that you know exactly where we stand and what our plans are.
If you’d like to keep up on all of the latest news and information about River View Local Schools and our funding and facility needs, you can find us on Facebook. If you would like to speak with someone directly, please feel free to contact my office.
Regards,
Dalton Summers
Superintendent
River Local School District
Category: Letters to the Editor, Opinion
