Editor’s Note: Reader and Shelton parent Jaimee Mansfield wrote this commentary about her response to a proposed redistricting in Shelton.
Attention residents of Shelton: There is a plight within our city! This plight is about to be released upon two of our schools. The Underachieving Burden. Please, take caution, for this burden may appear in many forms and disguises; pigtails, cowlicks, kool-aid mustaches, marker stained hands, freckled faces and dimpled cheeks. Watch out, these various forms of burden may laugh and giggle, tell you jokes, play a game with you or even ask for help with their homework! Now don’t be frightened if these things that are a burden remind you of your children. Because they are children.
They are the children of the Lafayette School district, who are known as underachievers, and soon to be a burden on Long Hill and Sunnyside schools, or so it was said at a recent redistricting hearing that my husband and I attended, along with many Long Hill parents, and a few Lafayette parents.
My two stepsons are students at Lafayette school, the oldest is going to Perry Hill next year, and the youngest didn’t know where he was going until last week. According to the maps, he is heading to Sunnyside next year. I will admit, originally I was not at all happy with this decision, I have heard so many wonderful things about Long Hill School, and was eager for him to have the chance to go there. However, after hearing what we heard from parents at the meeting last night, I am quite pleased that he is going to Sunnyside.
My husband and I entered the Lafayette gym, as we have so many times in the last 5 years, expecting to be bored to death and then hurry back home to the kids. We left angered and disgusted with things that were said about our children and our school. Sure, no one actually said the word ‘children’, but the children were referred to over and over again. They were referred to as a ‘burden’ that was about to be placed on two schools. A burden who are underachieving and will be a drain on the students of Long Hill School. Yes, those were the words that were used.
I sat in my chair with tears brimming my eyelids thinking about my amazingly beautiful and smart stepsons back home playing with their grammy, and how lucky they are to have four parents who love them very much and do everything in our power to make sure they succeed at school to the best of their ability. My tears were also for the children who I know do not have the same love and involvement at home, who struggle daily in school because they aren’t being helped after school. After all, learning does not only take place in the classroom, but at home as well. These poor children who are just as innocent as the straight A students of Long Hill school, just as innocent as my stepsons who brought home near perfect report cards last week, and have the same capacity to love, learn and play as any other child in the city of Shelton.
Why do these children not deserve a chance at Long Hill School? Why are they a burden? Before you say these words, think about your own children, and how much you love them. No child is EVER a burden. Children are human beings, the most innocent of human beings. If we can’t help them and teach them, who will? These children are about to become students of Long Hill School and Sunnyside School. Their geographical location within city limits has nothing to do with their capacity and RIGHT to learn.
Superintendent Burr said it all when he said that ALL students of Shelton belong to SHELTON. They do not belong to Long Hill, Sunnyside, Mohegan, etc. They are all students of Shelton. And ultimately will all end up in Perry Hill, SIS, and SHS together. Thank you Mr. Burr, your words were heard and respected by the parents of Lafayette School, even if no one else was listening. We all belong to Shelton, not Long Hill, White Hills, Huntington or Downtown. Shelton.
This commentary reflects the opinions of Jaimee Mansfield, not the Valley Independent Sentinel.