[Mjhsteam] Parent and Staff help needed

[Susan Mahoney]

In one week, patrons of the Moscow School District will vote about the proposed increase to our supplemental levy. Please lend your support to helping the levy pass.    - Susan Mahoney
We need immediate staff and parent help in the following areas:
Letters to the Editor: We need as many people as possible to write positive letters to the editor in support of increasing school funding, especially after last night's negative opinion editorial from Dale Courtney. All letters are due tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon by 5:00 PM. They can be emailed in plain text format directly to letters at dnews.com and must be under 300 words including the tile. Take some time out this evening to write a letter if you haven't already done so.
Some ideas for letters to the editor supporting school funding:
Enrollment decline doesn’t equate to staff reductions because it doesn’t happen all in one grade level. You can’t eliminate a teacher when enrollment declines by 20 students because that decline isn’t all in one class, it’s spread out across 13 grade levels.
Use the following quote and write a piece to go with it: “If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job.” ~Donald D. Quinn
Moscow School District has some of the highest per pupil expenditures in the state and also consistently scores higher than the rest of the state on the standardized ISAT and IRI tests. For reference on how Moscow students compare to the rest of the state look at the following url: http://www.sd281.k12.id.us/Test%20Scores/Test%20Scores.htm
The average home owner in Moscow will pay a tax increase of around $15 per month, that’s less than one night of pizza for dinner or one evening at the movies. It comes out to an increase for the average household of 7 ½ cents per student per year.  Pretty cheap investment for providing quality education to over 2,400 local youth. 
Take a look at the information packet put out by the school district and pick something from there to write about. url: http://www.sd281.k12.id.us/Board_of_Trustees/VoterLevyInfo.pdf
If you want to enjoy the qualities of a community like Moscow, you need to plan to pay for it with your taxes. If you don’t want to pay taxes, move to some podunk town in the middle of nowhere that has lower taxes and a lower standard of living.
Neighborhood Campaigning:  Be a part of the Support Moscow Schools Walking Team!

Would you like to walk around your neighborhood, get some exercise and 
help support Moscow Schools?  We are in need of people to walk around 
and deliver brochures with information about the March 27 School Levy. 
You just put brochures in doors or doorways; you don't have to ring 
doorbells or try to talk to people (unless you want to). It should take 
about an hour of your time or less. The dates we will be needing people 
to deliver will be March 22-25 (Thursday - Sunday), and you can pick a 
time convenient for you. High school students or groups would also be 
very welcome volunteers. We need to be done by Sunday, March 25.  If 
you 
can help, please contact Diane Prorak, 882-3959 or dianep8 at verizon.net 
We will give you brochures and an area to deliver to. This effort is 
organized by the parent-organized group, Support Moscow Schools.
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