Commentary

Equality should not fall on the backs of our students, nor their teachers. Consolidation is not a bad idea to consider, but this particular proposal and its planning, or lack thereof, will undoubtedly harm students, teachers, and taxpayers alike. So no, it is not really “about the kids.”

I feel it is necessary to use caution and “VOTE NO” on Consolidation in this upcoming election. Preserve our Independent School Districts. Preserve our thriving Mingus Union District, legacy and community.

Our efforts did lead directly to districts in two separate areas in Arizona consolidating, but not in the Verde Valley.

Consolidation can take the best of both districts and make one new and incredible district. which will benefit all kids in the Verde Valley, including CJ students.

We need to look ahead at the future of our public schools. Sedona Oak Creek School District has closed an entire school, district office and moved their middle schoolers to their high school. What's to say the same scenario won't happen in Cottonwood, Mingus Union, and Clarkdale Jerome School Districts?

For 25 years Mingus was my home, first as a student teacher then as an English teacher.

It has been 60 years since we revisited how our communities are serving the education our students. Today is the day, now is the time to vote for the change. Vote yes on Consolidation.

Hoping that we save money, but creating a long list of problems with no solutions doesn’t make sense, especially when budgets are tight.

With Michaels, the concern is more with the fact that Cottonwood still mandates wearing face masks when social distancing is not possible. It has less to do with the city finding a way to having a marquee event in as safe a manner as possible.

Prop 207 permanently locks Arizona into this social experiment at the expense of our kids, our roads, and our economy. The industry gets rich while Arizonans suffer the consequences.

Having been raised in a small western Kansas community with a unified school district, I was shocked that there wasn’t a unified district here and figured it just made perfect sense to consolidate. It wasn’t until all the facts were analyzed and specifics presented that I came to realize that consolidation was a bad idea.

What you can give very soon is your insistence on independence, your “No” vote on consolidation, so that Mingus Union can remain the special, self-governing place it is, a place that attracts excellent people, who know that sometimes a home, just a small one, is exactly what you need.

As a Verde Valley, we should come together and do what’s best for kids. K-12 districts build relationships with students, parents, and community members that last for 13 crucial years in their lifetime.

Sixty years ago was the last time we had major change in the delivery system of primary and secondary education of our school districts. A lot has changed since the formation of our union high school district.

Twelve years ago, I put a bumper sticker on the outside of my six-subject binder that barely fit in my locker.

This vote is important. This vote has the ability to mold the future of education in Clarkdale, Jerome, and Cottonwood for decades to come.

I am writing in support of the school consolidation/unification of the Cottonwood Oak Creek School District and the Mingus Union School District and respectively request your “yes” vote on the Nov. 3, 2020 election.

In an effort to provide accurate information, I would like to share questions and answers gleaned from years of research and the recent Consolidation Information pamphlet.

In a year when the coronavirus pandemic has reshaped countless American rituals, even the commemoration of 9/11 could not escape unchanged.

It has come to my attention through reading commentaries and letters to this very paper, as well as social media content, that the Committee for Better Upper Verde Valley Schools is being labeled a “small group of individuals” who seek to push consolidation of Mingus Union High School District and Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District.

As I collected petition signatures two years ago, and then again this year, people would tell me “Why bother with trying to Unify two school districts?"

There is no compelling evidence that consolidation automatically leads to cost savings in a newly consolidated district anywhere.

With the threat of consolidation looming on the horizon for our school district, the arts program will inevitably be the first on the proverbial chopping block.

Democrats and some in the media say the president is deliberately slowing mail delivery and crippling the Postal Service so that it cannot handle an anticipated flood of voting by mail in the presidential election.

It’s the chance to grow as a single community with a unified vision and coordinated approach to infrastructure and development.