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Edison deserves a ‘yes’ vote

To the editor:

I originally shared this as a Facebook post following the final home football game vs. Indian Creek on Nov. 1. Our levy failed on Nov. 5 by only 16 votes.

Zac cried after tonight’s game. He cried because his favorite team lost and he won’t be able to play with his friends in the end zone next Friday night. He cried because he won’t hear the band, see the cheerleaders or head out for a run-through again until next fall.

We talked about being a senior and what it means to play your last game, play your last note or cheer your last cheer. Soon I was crying. I cried because I’m scared that my boys might never run out of that same locker room, through that run-through, and onto that field that I played on so many times. I am afraid that Becka might not serve a point on the same court as Katelyn Pollock, dribble on the same floor as the Prokapakis twins or toe the same pitching mound that Jami Bendle once dominated from. I understand that none of these things may happen anyway, but I want them to have that chance. I want them to be Wildcats.

These levies aren’t about transportation, pay to participate fees or crowded classrooms. They’re certainly not about past school boards, the firing of a superintendent 10 years ago or long dead rivalries between closed high schools. These levies are about Becka, Matt and Zac Evans and 1,700 other kids who call Edison home. They are about keeping a district alive that is needed in our community, about setting aside our differences and giving our community a chance to thrive.

I’m not naive. I understand that times are tough and some would struggle to afford new taxes. My own family’s financial situation is tighter than I would like. I also know that education is worth pinching a few pennies for. I also understand that my wife and I are teachers and that some believe that employees support levies so that they can get a raise. That may be true, but remember this: Before I was a teacher, I was a student at Edison High School. Before that, my mother and father walked the same halls. Before them, my grandparents shared an innocent kiss in a nearly new high school.

My story isn’t different from many, and my kids aren’t more deserving of the chance to graduate from Edison than anyone else’s. Give them all a chance to carry on old and start new traditions right here at Edison. Don’t cast a vote that could set in motion a chain of events leading to the death of a school district. Vote “yes” on May 6.

Your “yes” vote for Edison isn’t a vote for the things that you disagree with, past or present. Your “yes” vote for Edison is a vote for our students, the best education in Jefferson County and the future of our community.

James M. Evans II

Irondale

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