RANT

Eight-teen years ago my parents moved us to the Mid Ohio Valley. My dad, who works for the power company, had been transferred to Gavin Power Plant in Galia County, Ohio. The area wasn't known for their good schools and neither were the surrounding areas so my parents looked elsewhere. They finally settled on Warren School District in Washington County, Ohio which was easily 45 min to an hour away from my dad's new job. Distance was not an issue. My parents were smart and wanted to live in an area with good school and in a place they thought would have good resale value. All are VERY important when you could end up moving in a few years.

I HATED it! We had just left a fantastic town (Bethel, Ohio) that was close to Cincinnati and had fantastic shopping! I was stranded on a golf course with no neighborhood kids. The school was old and I was stuck back into an elementary school in 6th grade because they didn't have a separate middle school. The area had no private swim club like we had in Bethel and the shopping SUCKED! Eventually, I grew to like the area enough not to run away! When I graduated high school I couldn't wait to get away from it all though.

I chose to go to Kent State University because it was pretty far from home, I didn't know of anyone from my graduating class going there and the first guy I saw on campus at Orientation was cute. Most of the kids I met were from Northern Ohio and when we started talking about the schools we had come from I got really annoyed. All of them had newer high schools, awesome clubs and programs and technology we could have only dreamt of having. I ended up being the girl that came from the crappy country school that had drive your tractor to school day!

Sadly for my old school district the bond levies were always voted down. Our school district is HUGE but all rural with no zoning (except where my parents live). You could have a really nice house next to a falling apart and abandoned trailer. The area also has lots of old folks that aren't big on change. Sadly, yesterday the bond issue was voted down again and the school board is giving up. The comments on the newspapers website says it all. People saying they voted no for reasons that have nothing to do with the issue. One person actually posted they had voted No because they see girls walking around in shorts so short their asses hang out. It said that if the school can't stick to a dress code how can they stick to a budget. It's small minded, ignorant people like that that hold back the future of America. The MOV is considered Appalachia and it seems this part doesn't want to improve itself. One of the areas my parents chose not to move into got a new high school YEARS ago. It's just as bad off financially as Warren but people know what's important. I feel so sad for my Alma mater and the people that I know that still live there with their children. I will never understand the thinking of the people who voted NO. I wonder how many of them have children and want their children to have a future. My education was not nearly as good as my friends from Northern Ohio and that was 11 years ago.

Now it just seems like a waiting game. Wonder how long before the State steps in, takes over the school and raises the property taxes anyway?