‘Facilities are woefully inadequate’

BY KAREN LECHNER

I am a retired Maine Public School Counselor who worked in four different school communities throughout Maine for thirty-seven years, including the Falmouth School Department. For a majority of my career, I lived in the community where I was employed and where my two children attended school. This experience gave me a broad view of what makes great schools and vibrant communities.

I believe that the current diminished quality of our school facilities shines a bright light on the short-sightedness and unwillingness of some of our community leaders to support and defend what is one of the best investment a community can make. While Cape Elizabeth schools are exceptional for the quality of teachers, support staff, counselors, nurses, and administrators, the facilities are woefully inadequate, particularly at the middle school level.

A school is the hub of any community, reliant on effective teachers and administrators, appropriate facilities for current safety measures, teaching and learning strategies, and perhaps most importantly a community that supports them. All citizens are positively impacted by the benefits of a well-supported public school in their community. It is the great equalizer for all families in Cape Elizabeth.

As a former Maine Public School Educator and retired senior citizen of Cape Elizabeth, I implore all members of our voting community to urge our Town Council to put forward the Middle Ground School Building Project so we may vote in November to give our children the school facilities they so desperately require and deserve.

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