Is it too Much to Ask?

This letter was just delivered to my inbox and MUST be shared!

Is it Too Much to Ask?

I have been reading various articles here on Dickenson Freedom as well as messages from and having sit down conversations with people who are deeply concerned for the future of our children and county. Over the fourth of July celebrations this weekend the topic of our county's future came up, as it always seems to do whenever I am with anyone. So many people are in fear of what the future holds for our area. It has made me think, is it too much to ask that our people's core values handed down from generation to generation are kept as the foundation of our lives here? Is it too much to ask that our teachers voices are not just heard, but listened to?

I grew up in Dickenson County and attended Haysi High School. During my time there I excelled both academically and extracurricularly, this was NOT accomplished on my own. I had teachers who were not only there to teach me, but to encourage me daily to be my best. If it hadn’t been for my teachers loving their job and their students, I would not have been in band, drama, choir, 4H, cheerleading, forensics, BETA club etc.. You see I grew up in a household where I didn't’ have parental support. I didn’t have anyone to show up to a ballgame, a play, a band competition, but instead my teachers, my coaches and the support staff at Haysi High School were there for me! They saw to it that this student who loved to learn and participate in what was offered, could! They knew that what they did daily mattered! Is was not too much to ask for them to open their hearts to a student, because they knew that what they did was valued from the TOP on down.

When I was a student at Haysi there was such a sense of pride in our school from every single staff member who worked in our school. The cafeteria workers were happy to see us, the janitors stopped in the hall and we would laugh and talk. The principals hugged us, the teachers loved us. I have no doubt in my mind that the teachers at Ridgeview love the students, but from what I have been hearing, they don’t love their jobs anymore. They don’t have the confidence that what they’re doing matters. They don’t believe that if they took their concerns to the TOP about a certain student, they would have the backing to see to it that they student could eventually excel if they were allowed to properly attend to their duties as teachers. Instead the student has become a number and the staff a body to fill a job.

I loved my teachers, I loved my school and I love the memories I have to carry with me for the rest of my life. It was BECAUSE I had a drama teacher who took the time to stay after school and coach myself and others in our speaking ability or drive us to competitions I was able to go on to thrive in a career where I used my voice daily. It was because I had an english teacher who sat beside me after class and offered up their extra time to see to it that my desire to write was encouraged that I went on to thrive in a writing career. It was because I had a band director that would pick me up and drive me to practice that I can still play an instrument today, 20 years after my high school career. I could go on and on about how good the teachers were to me!

I wasn’t the only student to receive such wonderful care, but I am one voice. A voice to implore that dictators of our counties academic goals to reinforce our counties core values. The values being love, time and attention. You see having a successful school begins with everyone in the county showing LOVE to one another, taking the TIME to stand up for injustices and giving ATTENTION to what really matters. None of this will ever be accomplished if the staff, parents, students and concerned citizens are IGNORED when their concerns are voiced. What good is it to see a teacher or a parent come before the School Board and beg for FAIR treatment only to be shot down behind closed doors in closed sessions where School Board members are over run by a dictator of a Superintendent? This is NOT how the people in our county have ever been. We are a united people who have always LOVED our schools. Is it too much to ask that our School Board and Superintendent practice what they preach? The Central office can not on one hand promise better, then turn around and outright deny concerns from the community who want to make it better! We are on a path that is moulding children into just a number to shove out the door and teachers who are forced to shove them! We are on our way to students who could care less if they attend school, because many of the classes and extra programs offered to them were pulled out from in under their feet. I can not imagine the heartache I would have endured if I had no more arts programs at Haysi! I would have been left behind, because I did not excel at sports and my heart was not in those things. No one would have been there to see my potential, because I would not have had a program to focus on. I would have just been there, day after day, waiting to leave.

These are the very formative years of our lives when we are in school, we spend more time at school than at home as adolescent! Should our school not be a place where POSITIVITY reigns? If the 2016-2017 school year is entered into under the current circumstances, there will be a plethora of students and teachers who could care less, because they are not cared for. That is the bottom line. Is it too much to ask that our county government and our school board right their wrongs for our future speakers, writers, performers and teachers? Right now, clearly, it is too much to ask!