Vol. 1, Issue
1 of 25
April 26, 2023
RED DEVIL POS Our opinion: vote yes on the referendum by Sarah Gygi
On Wednesday, April 12th, I interviewed Superintendent Andy Anderson. We discussed the effects that the referendum would have on students, teachers, staff, and the community. Mr.Anderson explained that the biggest threat to our school is the lack of money. He says “without the passing of the referendum, our school will run out of funds within the next 2 years, and the school will be forced to lay off teachers and cut programs because of finances.” Existing underfunded programs will be completely lost, and many of our newer programs throughout the school district will be the first to go. The referendum will directly give funds back to our school and our teachers. Anderson states that we have goals to “expand our hiring network, add full-time resource officers to our school, and increase mental health support in all five schools, but the biggest thing will be to increase our teachers' wages.” One shocking piece of information told to me by Mr.Anderson was that McDonald’s starting pay is higher than the starting pay for our teaching assistants. It would be more logical for someone seeking out a
T
9
teaching assistant position to simply apply at a fast food chain and be paid more than to come to our school system and settle for less. Can you see the problem here? It doesn't take a well-educated person to understand the number of teachers and staff we should expect to lose if this referendum is unsuccessful. Students who are registered to vote can have a say in this. If you are a student who is 18 years old or more, you can vote on May 2nd if you’re registered.