In Your Opinion: Now Up To The Community To Make ‘One Less Move’ Work

By Bill Connell, Somerset.

This May I was in a South Carolina Arena, about to watch my eldest daughter graduate.  For any parent this is a defining moment.  My daughter’s proud, Mom is proud, and I am proud.  As I looked over the crowd of 1000s of kids all as special as mine, a thought popped into my head.  Congratulations Billy, you just made a snow ball in Alaska. At a major defining moment in the parenting experience, you confronted with the reality of how many people there are in the world.  The joy went away and the ever-present parental worry had just taken a trip to bathroom and returned to its seat.

It was in this moment that I realized, character, work ethic, patience, adjusting  and tenacity are the real things that differentiate people. These are all things you learn from your parents, friends, and neighbors.  Having them can make or break your college experience, but you still need them with out college.

The Franklin Board of Education, after 8-10 years of planning, is about to hand over the keys to the car on the “One Less Move” expansion to the parents, children and staff. We are at the finish line, though I’m sure you will see a paint brush or two.   I watched it the whole way, participated a little, commented a  lot.  In advocating for the things  I like, I learned about things I did not know and the complexity of priorities. It’s been fun.

This September the people take control and we have teaching moment that is not in the curriculum.  Change is not bad, learning how to adjust and keeping your head on straight is a life skill.  In my corporate experience, anxiety causes the trouble, the change is usually minor.

At this point Administration has done all it can. It is now up to the teachers, children and parents to make it work.  I’m sure it will need some tweaking, but that is where the life lesson is.  Strong parental support will give teachers  time to fine-tune any changes. Please support them productively.

Congratulations to Ed Seto, Eva Nagy, Bill Grippo, Rich Seamon, Nancy Lacorte,  the people of Franklin and the current administration for getting us here.  This was no small endeavor.

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