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Life with Levi
Feeling insignificant
and unimportant is not an option
By Amanda Olson
Editor
As the new Editor of CNO, I’ve been reading all of the letters and
columns that come in regarding the Greenville Schools Levy. And I am
overjoyed to see the supportive members of the community that are
willing to give local students the new facility that they need and
deserve.
I’ve also read the opinions of those who are opposed to giving
Greenville students a new school that they can be proud of.
I know what you’re probably thinking by now: isn’t this column supposed
to be about my son Levi?
Yes, it is.
And, yes, this column in particular is just as much about Levi as all
the others have been.
Because frankly, after all the fighting and bickering and mud-slinging
that I’ve seen from the residents of Greenville, there is no way in the
world that I will ever send my son to a school that is not backed by
the community.
We live in Ansonia. I’ve lived in Ansonia my whole life, except for a
couple of years that I lived in Greenville. So go right ahead and tell
me that I don’t know what I’m talking about. But you might also want to
know what all of this looks like from an outsider’s point-of-view.
I grew up in a town that supports its students. When I went to Ansonia
High School, the building was falling apart. Most of the basement was
condemned, along with the bell tower. The building itself was filled
with asbestos, and the part of the basement that wasn’t condemned would
flood when it rained.
Half of the windows in the building had been bricked over to save on
heating costs in winter, the floors in the oldest part of the building
popped and creaked whenever anyone walked across them, and my senior
year, bricks began falling off the top of the building near the roof.
For at least a week, part of the front lawn was roped off with caution
tape.
Sound familiar? It should. From what I’ve seen and heard, these
problems, along with many others, plague the facilities that Greenville
Schools still use. And while some of the problems that Ansonia had may
not necessarily overlap, my point is this: Ansonia provided us with a
new facility that wasn’t hazardous to our health. The residents of
Ansonia didn’t pitch a fit and fight against the school board. They
passed the levy and built us a new school.
I never got to attend the new school. My class was the last to spend
the entire year in the old high school building. But I am still glad
that the town gave us a new school. They saw the need, and they met the
need.
Last time I checked, Ansonia is a lot smaller than Greenville. And
maybe that’s why the levy got passed. Not nearly as many nay-sayers.
There are a lot of differences that play into passing a levy and
getting a new school building.
But really, there shouldn’t be.
It should be about the students. The kids that will grow up to call
Greenville their hometown.
I’m proud to say that I grew up in Ansonia. I’m proud to say that I’m a
graduate of Ansonia High School. And I can’t wait to tell people that
my son goes to Ansonia.
As of this year, I’ve been out of school for 11 years. And I’m just as
proud now as I was then. I’m also proud to say that my little sister
graduated from Ansonia this year.
My husband graduated from Greenville in 2008. He agrees with me that
Levi will never go to Greenville Schools.
Some of the stories that he told me about the school as a whole are
scary. Not necessarily about the buildings, but about the atmosphere.
Many other Greenville grads that I’ve spoken to told me equally scary
stories. And they also say their kids won’t go to Greenville.
When Aaron went to Greenville, he felt that the community was not
behind the school. He describes Greenville as a retirement community
where no one cares about the students. To me, that’s sad.
I’ve read columns by Managing Editor Bob Robinson where he recalls
Greenville students asking him why Greenville residents won’t support
them. Like Bob, my heart breaks when I think about those kids feeling
like they aren’t important enough to deserve a new school.
To me that says that Greenville is putting it’s own wants and needs
ahead of it’s students. Kids don’t care about politics, and taxes, and
money. They want love and attention. From what I’ve seen, Greenville
isn’t giving them much of either.
Every school district in this county has given their students a new
facility. Except Greenville.
Why is that?
Have all of you forgotten that someone paid for you to go to school?
Sure, they may not have paid as much, but they still footed the bill.
It probably wasn’t easy for all of those people, but they still did it.
In my mind, it’s time for people to stop complaining and step up to the
plate. You are now in the shoes of those who paid for your education.
How would you have felt if your community didn’t back you up? How would
you have felt if there were adults walking around saying, “I’ll never
vote for that levy. They don’t need a new school.”
If I were a kid, I’d feel pretty bad hearing that day after day, year
after year. I would feel insignificant and unimportant. And no child
should ever feel that way.
Levi will never go to Greenville as long as there are those walking
around telling the children of the community that they aren’t worth it.
Because in essence, that is what Greenville is doing: telling kids that
they aren’t important. That all of these grown-up issues that kids have
no idea about are more important.
If I lived in Greenville, I would support the levy because I think
children are this nation’s greatest resource. Our children today have
enough to deal with without having to go through life feeling like they
aren’t deserving of the best.
I know many will blow me off and tell me that I have no idea what I’m
talking about. And maybe I don’t have all the facts.
But I do know this: No one will ever tell my son that he isn’t good
enough, that he doesn’t matter. So I guess as of right now, that
means he won’t be going to Greenville.
And that, Greenville, is your loss. I just hope you realize how great
of a loss that is before you lose your town’s entire future.
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