Respect for individuals’ endeavors and confidence in students’ potential achievement are fundamental motivators for learning. The current Freeport High School indoor and outdoor facilities reflect neither element. Basic safety, accessibility, and spatial issues drive the renovation initiative; the essential mechanisms for providing dignified, 21st century educational programming are concurrently addressed. Personal aspiration will distinguish our youth, confronting the realities of an exceedingly competitive, tumultuous global environment, one more complex than any previous generation has navigated. They must have scientific, creative, and engineering minds, able to anticipate and adapt to change. Industrial nations value and harness intellect, enterprise, innovation, and social capacity. Our state government has relinquished responsibility for educational funding; let’s not fail locally, submitting to the notion of education as an entitlement rather than a democratic principle. Validating the FHS renovation bond, the Durham, Freeport and Pownal community will advocate fiscally responsible investment in physical and human capital, provisioning a teaching and learning environment which respects multiple pathways to success and affords every student equal opportunity to be vocationally and socially engaged. This comprehensive project commits to the public role in cultivating humanitarianism, socio-economic vision, and intellectual confidence. We convey values and expectations through action. Let’s intentionally support progressive education by approving this bond on June 11.

Kristen Dorsey
Freeport