Help to keep towns strong

To the editor:

I will start by saying that I will always be a Pennville Bulldog, elementary school in our town or not.

I know that statement doesn’t mean anything to anyone, but I believe, that for me, it comes from growing up in a small school. I attended Jay County High School for two years and I can honestly say that when I walk into the high school, I don’t feel the same as when I walk into Pennville. Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud to be a Patriot, but that feeling of belonging just isn’t there. I know my statement is true for other Pennville Bulldogs as well as some of those Redkey Wolves, Dunkirk Speedcats, Bryant Owls and Portland Panthers that grew up beside me in the smaller schools.

That pride and sense of belonging was instilled in me at an early age and it taught me a lot about small school rivalries. When I was 10, I couldn’t tell you what the rivalries meant other than I was cheering for “my” school. The rivalries grew stronger as I got older and started playing sports. Not in a bad way, but in a “proud of my hometown school” sort of way. I also grew to better understand the meaning behind the rivalries. The Bulldogs were the best team around in my eyes. Maybe they were, maybe they weren’t, but they were “my” Bulldogs.

Now, as a grandmother of six kids that attend four different schools in Jay County, that same pride and rivalry is still going strong. We have a Bulldog, a Wolf, a Bomber and a Patriot. I am proud to say that I support all four of these schools (but deep down, I’m still a Bulldog at heart). I love that my grandkids get to experience the same sense of belonging that our smaller schools have to offer.

We should look to the future and realize that what the school board wants to do with Pennville now is not about rivalries between our small schools or towns. It’s about major life changes for our families, our communities and our livelihoods.

Each child that attends any Jay County school has a price attached to them. Closing our schools will eventually affect the entire county. It should not be a battle for Pennville alone, but one for all of the small towns in Jay County. The next school on the chopping block will have kids and parents going through the same heartache and struggle that Pennville is facing now. Those heartaches are real. What do you say to an 8 year old that says she came home and cried under her pillow when she found out they wanted to close “her” school? Let’s fight this battle together for our kids, grandkids and the futures of Pennville, and the entire county. Let’s fight to keep a school in each town.

Recommendations have been made to do this, but those recommendations seem to be falling on the ears of a school board that isn’t really interested. Right now, Pennville seems to be the only town rooting for this option. Don’t allow the school board to decide our future. We all know that closing schools in towns that are already struggling will only make matters worse. If Pennville closes, who will be fighting the next battle? Redkey, Dunkirk, Bryant?

Help keep our small communities from becoming ghost towns. Help the “Save Our Schools, Save Our Communities” cause by signing the petition at Change.org. Write a letter to the school board or newspaper to let everyone know that you support keeping a school in each town. There should be no rivalry in this county wide matter.

Forever a Bulldog,

Selena Bost

Dunkirk