So I'm spending my Saturday afternoon reviewing the Madison Central school district website, trying to find information about curriculum, class size, building layout, etc. I come upon the online student newspaper, The Maroon. A worthy institution, that school paper: I got my start in writing opinion columns there, taking over the "Andy Rooney at MHS" column my sophomore year. I hammered on local issues then, too, teasing the Abundant Life Church for opposing nude dancing, criticizing the magic wand we waved over our state colleges to rename them all universities, and occasionally digressing into free verse in hopes our editor would fall for me....
But I digress again. I find this article from the February edition discussing the failure of the new gym/renovation plan at the polls. Following the Chuck Clement school of supplicant journalism, the Maroon story doggedly refers to the "renovation project." The new gym is not mentioned until paragraph 3:
...some citizens are less than enthusiastic because of assumptions that the renovation was a ploy to get a new gym. On Madison's website's frequently asked questions page, the issue is addressed &ndash and answered with, "This $16.9 million project is a complete school renovation with every MHS program and activity gaining much needed space and renovation. A 21st Century high school provides space and equipment so that all students can succeed and explore a variety of interests and career tracks." It goes on to list the amount of money being used for each subject, and the gym has the most individual money spent on it with $2.9 million, followed by $2.5 million for fine arts. The issues with sharing a gym are presented as well. Whether or not this is all about the gym or not, Madison High School has genuine problems that must be fixed [Becky Froehlich, "School Rebuild Fails to Pass," The Maroon, February 2011].
Paragraph 4 gets us some student perspective:
But what do the students think? Freshman Erin Lemair says she wanted the new school. "I figured it was going to be close," she says. "I didn't know whether it would pass or not." "I guess it doesn't matter to me because it won't even be done for our class anyways," sophomore Kyndra Tunender says. Several seniors admitted that they didn't even want to vote yes because they felt pressured into voting for an issue that didn't seem to pertain to them, considering the plans said that the school was forecasted to finish in 2013 [Froehlich, 2011].
I'm going to fault the seniors on one key point: good schools pertain to everybody in society. Of course, when I was seventeen, I couldn't see much past play practice and the nearest cute girl....
But look at that last sentence again: felt pressured into voting? Really? Miss Froehlich, if deadline hasn't already passed, that could be your feature story for March. What pressure? And from whom? Get some seniors on the record... and call me!