Justin Barriault: Winnisquam voters more concerned with school success than taxes

To The Daily Sun,

The taxpayers aren't afraid to spend money on the local students. Ever since last Saturday's Winnisquam Regional School District annual meeting I have been reading continuously how people are disappointed that the taxpayers are not in support of our local youth and that they don't care about their education, only their tax dollars. I completely disagree with those thoughts. I was at that meeting, and I voted no to most of the articles. Anybody that knows me knows that my wife and I are involved with the community, and care about the future of the children, so why would I vote no? Our school system, especially the high school, seems to be in such disarray right now that I couldn't see giving them such a massive amount of money. There doesn't seem to be any concrete plan, just a general idea of what the projects were. There were no answers when asked what the cost to run the new CTE center or programs would be. That number could easily be $400,000 a year between staffing, HVAC, maintenance, beauty products, machining materials, etc. One year members of the school board are stating that enrollment is up and then all of the sudden enrollment is down enough to get rid of an entire school? There were not enough facts available in my opinion to raise homeowners' taxes $1,000, $2,000, or who knows how much, without first getting what we already have straightened out. High school students allowed to wear shirts that say DILF? Students that are being told as long as they show up they'll get a passing grade? More breaks during the school day than actual education for many? Seriously? The high school students deserve a better education and better structure than they're receiving, I'm scared to see how the closure of Union Sanborn is going to be completed especially now that we've voted to sell it without even trying a year without it yet, and I'm concerned about the state of our school system which has some really good staff and some great students, just a lack of proper management. This is the next generation, our future, our children, and it takes more than tax dollars to turn them into adults that will be proficient in life after their senior year of high school.

Justin Barriault

Sanbornton