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Maintaining levy support is critical to staffing, curriculum, sports, electives … and the list goes on. A quality education experience depends on the levy. In fact, I couldn’t imagine LPOSD without levy support.

The levy is very personal for me in my role as principal at Southside. Along with levy talk, we quite often hear, “Instead of a levy, let’s save money by shutting down small schools.” The savings would be minimal, offsetting only a fraction of what the levy provides. I hope voters remember what a vital role our small schools play in the communities they serve. Close the rural school, and in many ways, the community spirit evaporates into a commute.

Our small rural school are giants in educational practices. For example, Southside earned Idaho’s “Blue Ribbon” status in 2015 and in 2016 was identified as a “National Title 1 School” for closing the achievement gap. Last year, Southside staff started the process of becoming a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) certified school, pioneering a unique pedagogical approach to develop skills for the 21st century.

Where will you place your vote? A vote for economy and to bus students to overcrowded classrooms? Or will you vote yes to keep our quality education and maintain the small schools in our rural communities?

JACQUE JOHNSON

Sagle