Teaching in a tarpaper shack down by the Mississippi

Just because I could, doesn't mean I should...

The following is a letter to the editor sent to the Aitkin Independent Age concerning the referendum for a new elementary school. To be clear, I teach at the high school and my children have either graduated or are at the high school, so I will not directly benefit from this.

When faced with raising our own taxes to build a new school, people say that it isn’t the building, it’s the teachers who provide a quality education. They are partially right. Aitkin has an excellent, seasoned staff that puts in countless hours both inside and outside of the classroom for their students, sometimes at the expense of their own families. Our staff, hired during an era when hundreds of teachers applied for a single job, do everything they can to provide the best education for our students.

While I probably could teach English in a tarpaper shack down by the Mississippi, it would not be ideal. It is also not ideal to teach in a building that funnels interior water to buckets and drains despite decades of spending money in an attempt to fix the roof. It is not ideal to teach in a building that struggles to regulate temperatures and is in dire need of serious repairs. For many years, previous school boards came into session and voted to refuse deferred maintenance levies placed by the state to help take care of the issues we are seeing today. No one complained about their property taxes being too low, and now we are seeing the fallout. Nothing is free or comes without a cost.

Times change and the needs of our students change as well. As a coach, I have seen many other schools and so have my students. I can’t imagine any of those other communities thinking that the state of our buildings is acceptable. I know every one of our board members and administrators and whether I agree with them on every issue or not, I do not doubt that they are trying to do what is best for our students and community. Naysayers claiming otherwise have not truly spoken or listened to them, or have an ulterior motive. If this group of different people from different walks of life unanimously agree that a new building is the best option moving forward, I believe them.

The hiring process for teachers is much different than when I started teaching. Now, we are often lucky to get 3-4 applicants for a position, compared to the hundreds we had in the past. Teachers will need to be replaced. Updated, modern facilities will serve as a selling point when the time comes to replace retiring teachers.

The choice is clear: continue pouring money into the current inadequate facilities or invest in a building that will meet our needs into the future and be something the community can look at with pride. While we can’t change the decisions of the past, we can make wise decisions right now. Vote yes for the referendum.

Jason Henke
English Teacher
Coach
Aitkin High School

Note: I have photos of water pouring in through the roof of the high school and damaged ceiling tiles all over the floor during what I call "The Great Flood of 2015" that would have illustrated this quite well. I didn't publish them for two reasons: the referendum is about the elementary, not the high school, and I can't find them right now...