Letter: Vote Yes on our Children’s Safety and Education

To the editor:
I urge a “YES” vote on Measure A. Our daughter graduated from SV Middle School in 2001 and SVHS in 2005. As a parent, I’m most grateful to the entire Scotts Valley community for not only a great place to live but to raise our child and educate her as well. That’s why we chose to live here, for our great SV schools. I know that our children are our future and that our investment in their educations and safety is paramount to the each of us and certainly to our state and society as a whole.
For too many years now we have all driven by SVMS and viewed what has become a disgrace to each of us and certainly to our entire SV community. We love living here and take pride in our community; it’s time to take pride in our middle school. We all want the best in social services, schools, roads, medical care, etc., and, yes, it takes our tax dollars; there is no other way to build a new school. I can’t think of anything more important than best educating our children in a safe structure. Our current middle school is 73 years old; the electrical and plumbing is being held together by duct tape and cannot provide the technology our students need to thrive and compete in their world. Safety is my top concern in voting “YES” on Measure A; a school that we as a community can all take pride in comes next.
We are fiercely proud of the first-rate academics and accolades of our SV schools and enjoy the accompanying real estate values they bring; it’s time to take pride in our middle school structure as well. Please, as a community, let’s build a middle school we can all be proud of. Let’s vote to send our children and their children to school each day in a new, modern and safe structure.
Pam Lawson
Former President, SVEF and SVMS Parent Club
Scotts Valley