Yesterday was a very stressful, event filled day for all the kids who attend Easton Middle School. If you happened to miss the news today, a triple homicide happened in the West Ward of Easton in close proximity to our middle school. The school quickly implemented a school “lock-down” in order to protect all members of the school community. As a parent of a 10 year child that attends the Easton Middle School, I was grateful and impressed by the school’s quick reaction.
This sad incident happened just days after a semi-public debate about the role of parents strongly advocating school safety to the Easton Area School Board (see Express-Times article “Parents’ motives assailed in student moves” – November 19, 2007). It seems the article is implying that any statement by Forks Township parents that advocates for improved school safety for the Easton Middle School is tantamount to racism. I absolutely disagree with this statement!
The press and public officials spend a lot of time stating we need more involvement from the community at the federal, state, county, and local levels. They declare we want public input. As soon as one brave Forks Township parent talked about school safety in Easton West ward, this person was criticized in the press by a school board member elect.
I know this is a school safety issue, but I feel we have a responsibility as a community to protect our children. We have no greater or scared resource, than our children. The children of our community are our future and our legacy. The EASD school board needs to ensure that our schools provide a quality education for ALL our children regards of their race, gender, and national origin.
Whether it is school safety, public safety for our multi-use trails, township comprehensive plans, or budgets, it is very important we encourage open and honest communication between the public and our elected officials. We must go out of our way to provide the opportunity for public input and celebrate the fact that people take the time to share their thoughts and opinions on critical issues!
All levels of government (Forks BoS, Northampton County Council, EASD school board, etc.) must seek out ALL opportunities that allow the public to comment on plans. For example, the Forks BoS has a great opportunity to gather public input by releasing the draft version of the 2008 budget, to hold public meetings on Saturday to provide greater accessibility to our local officials for residents to provide input on how our tax dollars are spent, and to broadcast Forks BoS meetings on the local cable channels so busy working families can watch the meeting from home.
Once again, we have an opportunity to have a great debate about a critical issue facing our community. Let the debate with school safety for the Easton Middle School start now.
If you have any ideas or comments about critical issues facing Forks Township, please share your ideas via our blog or email at d.bilings@att.net.
Get Involved – Every Voice Counts!
Sincerely,
David Billings
d.billings@att.net
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2 comments:
Thoughtful observation and well written. This is a problem everywhere and needs to be addressed.
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