Author: SOS Support Our Schools
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School Budget Debate Reveals Power Structure
“On whom will our politicians choose to inflict harm? Will they provide bold and creative solutions to allocate harm equitably among those best equipped to bear it, while advocating for change on Beacon Hill and at Smith? Or will they cower behind ‘fiscal responsibility’ and place the greatest burden on kids and the tireless educators…
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Public School Cuts Cause Disproportionate Harm
“These staff members are not extraneous — the work they do is essential to our school’s ability to keep our children safe and serve all students adequately and equitably.” Read Rebecca Allen-Oleet’s Letter to the Editor here:https://www.gazettenet.com/Letter-to-the-editor-55287639 June 1, 2024
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Don’t Cut the School Budget!
“If you were a fifth grade teacher, would you want to work on 27 report cards for 27 individual students? Or have to look at and assess that many tests every time there was a test or assessment? Not to mention just regular daily work.” Read Ruby Theberge-Goode’s Letter to the Editor here:https://www.gazettenet.com/Letter-to-the-editor-54638708 April 11,…
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Community Support for Northampton Schools
“It was not and never was NASE’s budget. Rather, it was a budget that maintained current staff and services in the schools and one that received vigorous and ongoing support from many community members.” Read Tom Riddell’s Letter to the Editor here:https://www.gazettenet.com/Letter-to-the-editor-55903833 July 11, 2024
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Our Kids Need Well-Staffed Schools
“They continue to experience fallout from over a year without consistent in-person schooling, both emotionally and academically. . . Our children’s collective wellness is the foundation of their future and our community’s future.” Read Sarah Buttenwieser’s Letter to the Editor here:https://www.gazettenet.com/Letter-to-the-editor-55127683 May 15, 2024
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Road to Ruin for Northampton Schools
“Mindless, grinding cuts, year after year, are as suicidal as overspending . . . Yes, ‘budget shortfalls.’ Yes, ‘sunsetting pandemic funds.’ Yes, inflation . . . we can either muster the vision and tenacity and stomach to plan for it — with innovative new public-investment funds, with creative and surgical approaches to tax policy, with…
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Mayor’s Budget Still Shorting Children
“Creating the programs and learning environments that ensure all students can grow and thrive takes time, money and staff. Slashing staff and services as students return to routines disrupted by the pandemic is a recipe for diminishing the school experience for entire classrooms — or even entire schools.” Read Andrea Egitto’s Guest Column here:https://www.gazettenet.com/Guest-columnist-Egitto-55341389 May…
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Heartsick for Northampton Schools
“This is the time of year when teachers plan for the future, collaborating and reflecting to improve our students’ experience. How can you have these conversations when the phrase ‘next year’ flings salt at an open wound?” Read Jenna Idenward’s Letter to the Editor here:https://www.gazettenet.com/Letter-to-the-editor-55281721 May 30, 2024
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Public Schools Should be a Unifying Cause
“Their pleas for our city to maintain our school’s current services come from a desire to do the right thing for our students. It’s hard to imagine power or greed or any other ulterior motive driving school staff to spend their free time advocating for equitable services in our public schools.” Read Yvette Bernecker and…
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Where’s Your Courage to Do What’s Right for Students?
“In a city where there is much clutching of pearls about racial and economic injustice, I’m flabbergasted that our city officials would put public education in jeopardy, thereby reinforcing all of the inequities they so adamantly denounce.” Read Haley Pearl’s Letter to the Editor here:https://www.gazettenet.com/Letter-to-the-editor-55441776 June 5, 2024