Hello All,
Go Green, Go Blue, Go Wings, Go Lions
We don’t think twice about sharing our thoughts on our favorite team. We will wear their jerseys, put flags on our cars, and spend our hard earned dollars to buy tickets.
Will you do the same for the Dearborn Public Schools?
I’m not talking about cheering for one of our great athletic teams, attending a concert, or donating to a school fund raiser. All of those things are important and many of you do those things all the time. I’m talking about getting out and doing something to ensure a successful Hold Harmless RENEWAL.
The Hold Harmless Millage RENEWAL will appear on the November 4 ballot and represents $40 million dollars of our total $180 million operational budget. This is NOT a new tax, only a RENEWAL of an existing millage that was first approved in 1994 and then renewed in 2004. State law requires us to ask voters to RENEW this millage every ten years.
All 2,400 staff members will be impacted if this millage is not RENEWED. Massive cuts across the district will mean a reduction in staff and services to our students. All staff, all services will be impacted. For those who remain employed your work load will increase due to the lack of almost 1/5 of our staff. $40 million is 1/5 of our total operational budget so anticipating 1/5 less staff is not unrealistic.
These comments are not made lightly or meant to scare. They are the reality that will exist if the Hold Harmless RENEWAL is not successful on November 4.
So what can you do?
For those who attended the Response to Bullying Behavior event the other night you know the theme was “Each of Us Can Make A Difference”. This is very true, each of can make a difference, whether it be for only one person or a thousand.
We all have plenty of things to do this weekend. Football games, work around the house, family commitments, and even plenty of work related activities. How about taking 10 minutes to go talk to your neighbor, a hour to hand out flyers on your block, or a couple of hours to drive around and post a few signs? If every person reading this e-mail made a commitment to guarantee 5 votes that would be almost 12,000 votes. In an election like this, as few as 20 votes could be the difference between a win and a loss.
A bit of time spent during these last few days will go a long way in preventing us from going through all this again in the spring.
Each and every employee, whether you live in Dearborn or not, needs to be doing what every you can to inform residents about the Hold Harmless RENEWAL. We all have an interest in seeing this campaign through to a successful conclusion.
This District has had plenty of success over the past few years. Graduation rates are up, new programs have been added, and we continue to be recognized as educational leaders and innovators.
The Hold Harmless Millage RENEWAL will allow us to keep that positive momentum moving forward. Let’s all do our part to keep the success going in the Dearborn Public Schools.
Have a great weekend!
David