Parent: MCC’s children deserve to be safe

Parent: MCC’s children deserve to be safe

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Dear Editor,

My family and I moved to our home in Victory Township in 2018, when our oldest of two kids was just about ready to start preschool. Knowing that we hoped to call this area home for a very long time, I spent a lot of time considering our potential school districts. When a home in the Mason County Central School District hit the market, I was thrilled. From the outside, MCC seemed bigger than the rural district I grew up in, but not as big as my husband’s much larger alma mater. It looked big enough to provide extra opportunities for advanced learning, but small enough that you could tell the teachers knew their students in the intimate way that I experienced growing up in a school with multi-generational families learning, teaching, and leading throughout the community. 

My expectations have been met and exceeded – at least when it comes to the educators, staff, and administration. This district employs some of the best human beings I’ve ever met. They lead and teach with passion and a love for a district many once walked through themselves as students. The new teachers have come to us with fire in their souls and a  desire to provide the best opportunities for everyone in this community they’ve chosen to call home.  Since relocating, we have had two more children and will now hopefully be an enrolled MCC family for the better part of the next two decades. I love this community. I am proud to have my kids growing up here. 

That said, there are some pretty big issues with our facilities that need to be addressed if we as a community expect our district to thrive years down the road. The May 2, 2023 bond proposal will address many of those issues- namely safety and relevance. 

The amount of glass throughout our buildings, especially in the high school, is a major cause for concern in a country averaging a gun-related mass killing once every 6.53 days in 2023 alone.  I am a huge advocate for the benefits of natural lighting in a learning environment, but I am a larger advocate for the students in those environments living to see graduation. 

Unfortunately, in our world today we need to consider the safety of our schools from a more aggressive lens. Our kids are asking their teachers, my friends, during active shooter drills whether or not they will actually be safe with just glass walls between them and someone on a mission to end lives. The glass won’t save them, but my friends will give their own lives to do what our buildings can’t right now. I’ve seen the fear and resolve in their eyes when they tell me about these conversations. Our educators should not have to counsel our children through those trainings while we as the owners of the buildings have not done everything in our power to ensure their safety.

The proposed updates to our buildings will also ensure that our children, MY children, can go to school everyday in buildings that will not only keep them safe, but also foster a future fortified with the best learning experiences and facilities available from the start. Our kids deserve that. 

We urge our kids to Make Correct Choices- I see that phrase in so many places around our campus. We cannot in good conscience impress that directive on our children while neglecting to make the correct choices so clearly in front of us as the stewards of their futures. We can talk ad nauseum about “Safety and Relevance”, but it’s really about the kids. My kids. Your kids. Our kids. Please Vote Yes on May 2. 

Sincerely,

Kelli Stojic

Victory Township

Co-chair of Vote Yes for MCC Campaign Committee

Member of the Victory Early Childhood Center Parent Advisory Committee

Board of Directors, Sandcastles Children’s Museum