As many of you may have noticed a lot of new construction going on in our town. With this new construction comes the hopes that people will occupy these lovely new homes. This leads into a new ‘problem’ that the town is facing which is what to do with these potential new students. They fear overcrowding and strain of educational resources at the elementary school level. 
One of the options is to rezone. This would mean that some of us would change schools. Students would be moved from the school they have grown comfortable in, friends and teachers. The other option (which would impact everyone) would be to switch to grade level school buildings (for example: one school would house k-2, the another building 3-5 something like that) The logistics of either option are unknown at the moment as this is just in the beginning stages of planning. This is why it is so important that as a town we ban together NOW and speak up. Our voices must be heard. You may think…I am safe even if they rezone. Speak up then for all the children that will be impacted. These kids have had a rough 2 years of school. 1) school abruptly stopped 2) kids weren’t allowed to see family or friends 3) school reopened but in a hybrid model and were forced to wear masks, no lunch breaks, no recess and strict rules about staying away from friends 4) school goes back to 5 days a week still shortened with no specials 5) new school year begins looking more ‘normal’ kids are finally feeling comfortable and enjoying going to school to learn and see their friends. Now that all is being threatened to make room for hypothetical children joining our district. 
Myself and a group of like minded families have come together to propose we do nothing to disrupt our children. We place these new students in our schools that have available slots. Those of us who currently have children in an elementary school should have the right to remain at that same school as well as those sibilings. Do we not pay enough in taxes to have the right to not disrupt our children! The argument of resilience has been made far too many times over the past couple of years. Let’s not rely on the hope that these kids will bounce back from ripping them away from a school they have grown to trust, love, made friendships with classmates and faculty, a place they feel secure and safe in.