Civil Disobedience

Dear Henry,
Anxious to start your activism young we stood out at the courthouse with the Aurora students, teachers and principal, Chuck Holloway, for a cool 15 minutes the other day to gather support for the school board to not vote to close the school.  Chuck took these cute pictures of you.   When cars honked and the kids screamed and waved, you followed their example.  

 

 

All cuteness and silliness aside Mommy and Daddy are very fearful of what our schools will be like in fours years when you begin.  Due to the policies of Mitch Daniels Indiana schools are being forced to makes some very hard and damaging decisions in cuts of certified staffs, librarians, assistant principals, and closing programs that are the three parachutes for at risk youth.  It is likely after the school board votes at 6 today the two large high schools will raise class sizes to the point where those large classes of 32-35 will be the good ole days of small classes and Aurora Alternative High School will be closed after 15 successful years.  Over 300 hundred young people have graduated from Aurora and a large unknown number were at least given another chance after feeling ignored, bullied, or forgettable in the large high school and many moved on to get their GED or at the very least had more semesters of education than they may have had.   
Aurora opened the year Mommy was student teaching.  All  wanted to do was teach at this school!  When we moved  to Bloomington mommy subbed there and put the hard sell to Chuck.  He found ways for me to be a the school each year until you came...just as he finds a place for all types of kids to fit.  Aurora is family.  Aurora is a chance to be yourself.  Aurora is a place where some of MCCSC's most educated teachers love to teach and they write and earn thousands of dollars in grant money every year.  It will be a loss.  Mommy's heart is breaking.  I thought we were moving to a community that supported all types of educational opportunities for a variety of learners.  I know this will not be easy for the school board, they have loved Aurora over the years.  The best one can do is support a referendum to Mitch Daniels' funding of schools via income tax back to property values.  I hope, Henry, we aren't forced to make hard decisions against sending you to a public school in four years.  
Love, Mommy