From our sister site The Waterland Blog:
For the past few weeks, opinions about the Highline school district bond have dominated the comment sections of our local media outlets. Vast and varied opinions exist. Some have inspired me and some have troubled me. All have made me feel something. This is good and is the reason I am writing this letter.
While I have some specific ideas about specific elements of the bond, I also see representative challenges comparable to the larger ones our country faces. My hope is that if we can unravel and understand and come together as a community dealing with a school bond, there may be some hope for our country to do the same.
In the U.S., a very obvious division exists. However, as obvious and palpable as it seems, I think it is also mostly phony. I believe that people are a lot closer, ideologically, than they are vastly different. We all care about our kids and our communities. We care about our families and friends and other citizens of the world, too. We have many important things in common. I think our dialogue betrays this fact. The news media certainly betrays this fact. I think if we lead with the presumption that the other party cares as we do, actual communication can occur. Better ideas will be constructed and problems can be solved, instead of the loud, yet impotent, process of finger-pointing and hollering that moves us nowhere. We NEED movement and we need to come together to get anywhere. We need to “lower our voices and elevate our arguments” to be effective in any way. If nothing else, I hope this school district bond exercise can teach us some lessons…Ok, that soapbox moment is over, but, please think about it.
Here are some specific items of interest to me:
First, anonymous posters bug me. I don’t get it. Each week, I write a little column. My name and photo accompany the header to my words. I claim them. By doing so, I understand very clearly that I need to choose my words carefully. The words that make the page are words that I respect enough to share. Many others words do not make the page. People unwilling to claim their words, to me, implies that they do not respect their own words enough to claim them, therefore, my respect for them is diminished, as well. It is too easy to speak unkindly while sitting in a dank basement, wearing pajama bottoms and drinking a warm diet Mountain Dew, which is how I imagine anonymous posters live. Come out of the basement and live with the rest of us. We need your perspectives and ideas to be taken seriously. Get serious about them. With this in mind, I applaud those folks who publish their names and own their words: Jerry Guite, Don Wasson, P Willoughby, the Castronovers and others, I thank you for making me think and I respect your opinions, even though I happen to disagree with them.
Next, the argument against administrative pay confounds me. I believe we NEED to PAY MORE for talented staff folks. I don’t want the JV team leading our school district. I want the varsity!! I want the blue chip squad!! These people deserve to be paid well! I believe we have some fantastic leaders. I have spoken with many of them and, more than their impressive resumes, they have impressive passion for their jobs. This cannot be faked. They care. They are not perfect. They are perfectly human and I have seen great humanity in their commitment to the immensely difficult task trying to educate a complicated community of students.
Our challenges are as unique as our population. Economic, social and cultural issues confront educators and policy makers every step of the way. Clear, best answers don’t exist. We need folks willing to examine new ways of thinking to face these challenges. We need innovators and explorers driven to find solutions. I think we have them. Pay them. Paying teachers more is a “no duh”, too. We need to elevate the entire culture surrounding education. We need to attract the best people to do the most important jobs in the world. Money helps achieve this.
Third, Des Moines Elementary moving will not end Des Moines. To be clear, I do not want Des Moines Elementary to move. I live in the surrounding neighborhood. My kids have both gone there. In fact, my dad went there in the 50’s. It is a neighborhood institution and truly does connect our families. However, it is an inadequate facility and if over-crowding will only further burden the already over-burdened infrastructure, then move it. I have no concerns about a developer stealing this land from the citizens. I see much potential for some cool community use which could actually expand its capacity to bond our little city. We, the citizens, OWN these properties and have absolute sanction over their use. This is why I am not afraid of the ghosts in the closet of some backdoor developer deal. To me, that’s just silly talk. The people will not allow it.
Lastly, win or lose, I hope this bond issue brings us together. If it passes, I hope the opponents will not waver in their commitment to ensure a high-functioning, fiscally responsible school district. We need these voices always. If the bond fails, I hope that both sides can get together and fix the problems with it. A real opportunity exists for collaboration and cooperation to create something that works for everyone. We care about the same things.
I understand that legitimate financial concerns exist for some folks and if this bond is excessively burdensome, I support your vote against it. If you are just mad at the government, because it has largely failed us and you feel violated and this is the one place where you feel like you might be able to exert your constitutional right to have some say-so and gain a sense of control by saying-so, please pick a different arena for your revolution. This is too important. This bond will help our kids and our communities. Thanks.
– Dave Markwell
Parkside Elementary
Pacific Middle School
Mt. Rainier High School -1987
[EDITOR'S NOTE:"Feel Good Friday" is a regular column written by Des Moines resident Dave Markwell, who just published his first book called "A Feel Good Life" (buy it on Amazon here). Dave also extols to all neighbors: "Enjoy where we live. Put your feet on the pavement and truly feel how great it is to live here!" Also, you can "friend" Dave on Facebook here. Or work out with him at his exercise company Waterland CrossFit!]