our little activist

 tonite we attended our district school board budget hearings. 

due to our corrupt & bankrupt state government (go ny) our truly awesome, but already highly taxed, school district has to make some cuts and raise taxes.  but only a 3% increase this year.  fortunately they have been good with our taxes and have a surplus which limits the cuts.  however next year will be a different story.

so, they are proposing a cut to the 5th grade LOTE (languages other than english) program as well as reducing art, technology, home-ec, etc.

well, aftie had just turned in her paper with her choice of french for next year's LOTE.

after a pta meeting one evening, i shared with her the news that the LOTE program might be cut for 5th grade.  apparently it didn't sit well with her.  the next day she and two other 4th grade cuties decided to do something about this.  they wrote a letter for all 4th grade supporters to sign and then turned it in at the school board meeting tonite.  they made posters to promote their cause and even went to each classroom explaining the situation and asking for signatures on the petition.  their wonderful teacher helped them by editing the petition and giving them a bit of direction.  they received permission from the principal to hang posters and to visit each classroom to ask for signatures.

way to go aftie!

a funny sidenote:  aftie was explaining their plans to me the other night and told me that her friend "was really excited and had been wanting to do something big for a while now".  "she's just wanted to be part of a cause". 

isn't that cute?  and great?  and sweet? and responsible?

i love it!  i love that my children are having opportunities to have their opinions heard.

the principal sat in front of us tonite and she told aftie that if you think something is important you should believe and make your voice heard.

great lesson.