It Takes a Village

There’s a famous African proverb:  It takes a village to raise a child. 

My parents and siblings came to visit recently, reminding me of what a lucky child I was. My parents always made education a priority. As a result, they have three children with a combined 3 bachelors degrees, two masters and one doctoral degree (me). It helped that we also had an extensive extended family who were willing to step in and help out. 

I think about parents and guardians in Adams 12 where rents and mortgages keep going up.  Parents and guardians need to work longer and/or odd hours as a result.  Sometimes they are lucky like I was and have an extensive extended family to help support their children.  Childcare, too, is very expensive and hard for some families to afford. For those who aren’t so lucky, I ask myself what we can do as a community in Adams 12 to be that extended family—to be that village. 

Adams 12 is already doing some great things in this regard.  They have brought back middle school sports, and BASE provides a good before and after school space for our elementary kids. 

One of my priorities as a director on the Board of Education will be to continue to push for robust before and after school activities that provide opportunities for kids to get homework support as well as develop skills and hobbies.  We have a shared responsibility to care for kids in our district from kindergarten to twelfth grade.  I embrace that shared responsibility.