I just read the agenda for tomorrow night's Board of Trustees meeting again.  I needed to make sure that I read it correctly.  It is with a profound sadness that I realize that I did, in fact, read it correctly.  Three possible lawsuits.  Three. 

It makes me wonder how we, as a community, might have failed three families.  The children in our community are our most precious citizens - to be protected, included, and encouraged.  How did we let them down?  What can we, as a community, do to help them?  There are three families that, for one reason or another, feel their children haven't been given the care or opportunities they should have been. Or perhaps they feel they have been ignored, slighted, or harmed in some way?  I don't know the specifics, and perhaps to speak in those specifics right now would be gossip and not constructive.

All of the questions that pop into my head that have no answers.  Why is this happening?  How did things come to this?  What can we do to make things right?  If these families 'win' the lawsuits, could that actually mean the end of our school, given our current financial difficulties and next year's budget shortfalls?  Is that a 'win'?  I don't know. 

I won't pretend to understand what difficulties these families are struggling with - I'm not walking in their shoes.  Nor will I speculate about the 'who'. That is idle gossip and does more harm than good.  Perhaps, though, I can concentrate on the how and why, and hopefully show the families that this community stands with them and their children, and perhaps there is a way that, as a community, we can help them AND the school.  Let's face it, if it's good for our children, it's good for the school.

The bottom line is this: when it comes to the health and welfare of our community's children, they come first.  That is not even a question, as far as I am concerned.  The question for me is, if this ends Lakeside School, what will happen to our community?

With utmost respect,
~Eric