A headline like the one The Forecaster chose for the recent article, “PTO head: Brunswick school budget gets it wrong,” suggests an adversarial relationship between parents and school administrators and is counter-productive.  My recent comments to the Brunswick School Board and School Department were intended to offer encouragement to those organizations to ask for the resources Brunswick needs to strengthen and expand academic opportunities for all learners.This is a time in which working together, as a community, is key. Everything I have seen points to growing momentum for fighting back against increasingly deep reductions in support from the state, and the realization that we are all stakeholders when it comes to education.

 

Do I think our youngest learners at Coffin School could benefit from increased access to gifted-and-talented services? Yes. Is that a terribly controversial statement? I hope not. The broader message of my comments, and many others at the recent budget meetings, is simple: we support our schools.

 

While I am honored to act as president of the Community for Coffin parent group, the views I expressed at the budget meeting were mine alone. If I were speaking as a representative of Community for Coffin (a wonderful organization of generous, talented people) I would have clearly stated that at the beginning of my comments.