When Wise County does what it has to (and it is coming folks)and closes the doors of my alma mata, I may lock myself in my room and cry a bit. God, I love that school. I get misty-eyed when I hear it's fight song. I can be tough on our kids there, but they all KNOW how I feel about them all. We may consolidate, but I am Indian, and will be until I take my last breath. It's all that I ever wanted to be, all that I am, all that I will always be. I have given my heart and soul to that school, spent thousands of hours volunteering, and thousands of dollars supporting it. It's mascot is proudly carved into my flesh. I spend alot of time looking at our trophy cases, looking at the planks at Shupe Field. I know what these schools mean to their communities, the pride, traditions, the spirit. I remember well the hurt in my dad's eyes and the tears in his voice when he said goodbye to his beloved alma mata (Pennington).
I also know that I have 2 sons. As a parent, more than anything else I want my children to succeed to the maximum in life. In order to do this they have to have a good education. This cannot happen in a school where the windows break, the walls crack, and it is sweltering in the summer/frigid in the winter. My sons can't learn if they can't concentrate.
I also understand that it makes no sense to pay to rennovate these schools. Doing this delays the inevitable. Our schools are 50 years old. How fair is it to have to turn around in a decade or two and make our kids pay to do what should have been done years ago?
Usually the first thing that pops up in discussion about consolidation in our sports-starved region is sports. Way too much stock is put there folks. I would rather walk into my son's office looking at his degrees than have folks talk about what a ball player he was. We always hear folks use the exception of the rule Lee High when they talk about the woes of consolidation. That fiasco could have been avoided with more thought and planning. Ask the folks in Letcher County about how it is working out for them. Maybe I would see it differently if I wasn't a dad, but there's bigger and better things than Friday night lights (as special as they are, and as much as I do love it).
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