Student asks folks to support levies

As our community members know, the time to vote on levies for our school district has come.

I am imploring you to vote yes.

As a sophomore at the high school, I have no vote, but you do. There are three levies appearing on your ballots: one for our disintegrating roof and two for additional operating funding.

Last fall, our roof was temporarily shored up as an emergency measure. We are nearing the end of the school year, and still we are operating under rusting beams and exposed wiring. Simply put, still we lack a safe place to go to school. We pride ourselves on progress, yet our high school has moved backwards; it’s far less safe for me to attend CFHS than it was for my father over 30 years ago. This cannot continue for another year. Should the levy fail, we will likely be forced to evacuate classrooms under the crumbling roof and return to partial remote learning. This brings me to my next point.

A recent editorial published by the Daily Inter Lake highlighted that during the 2021/22 school year, CFHS hit a new low for student proficiency rates in math, reading, and science. Not emphasized was that these statistics were taken from a school struggling with effects of Covid-19 and the difficulties and consequences of remote learning. Returning to that system creates an unproductive cycle, leaving hundreds of students lacking an adequate education.

While it may be easy to ignore the plights of our school when they do not directly affect you, I ask you to think differently. We are the next generation, and the coming leaders in our valley. For the good of our community now and in the future, we ask you to support our education and vote yes.

Eleanor Smiley

Columbia Falls