To the editor:
Hardwick voters have an opportunity this coming town meeting to support the Lakeview Elementary School. Schools are the heart of Vermont’s small towns. Their disappearance for punative financial reasons is a travesty and leads to the collapse of small towns. Who wants to buy a house in a town with no elementary school where young children need to be bussed many miles away?
Lakeview has great teachers who are willing to stay and work for small town salaries. Teachers elsewhere are leaving the profession and the number of young people signing on to teaching is declining. Compared to the cost of raising teacher salaries and benefits to a level that would compete with higher paying districts, the cost of keeping Lakeview open is peanuts.
I urge voters to reject the petition to close Lakeview Elementary and instead, wait to see how things play out.
Linda Markin
Hardwick
