I am the proud mother of three children in the Mineola School District. You probably think I am writing this letter to express disappointment in the failure of the budget, but that is not my reason. The people have spoken (unfortunately not that many) and the administration must abide by that decision.

I believe that we have good new leadership in place, teachers that care and parents that love their children beyond measure. I have seen strong parental involvement at the PTA level, teachers that cherish teaching here and administrators and board members who are extremely approachable and willing to listen. I have spent many hours chatting with parents at soccer fields, stores and the pool. This is such a wonderful community. Many parents have so many good suggestions and comments, both negative and positive. Unfortunately, I feel one of the biggest obstacles we face here in our school district is the reluctance of parents and residents to show up at a school board meeting and share their views. Most of the time, there are just a small handful of residents who come. After the first budget was defeated, why was there only a small number of people at the board meeting? I was shocked and disappointed.

I have heard over and over again from many people that their lives are very busy and they just don't have time. Don't we all have extremely busy lives? Aren't your children and yes, your real estate values worth your time and effort? I have heard that people "feel intimidated" at a board meeting. I do not find that to be the case. In fact, they are people who live here, have children attending school here and have a vested interest as much as anyone who lives here! I have heard the statement that "nothing really changes...what can one person do?" We have so many new people in this district. I believe that they are earnest in their intentions to improve things in our schools. I may not always agree with every one of their decisions but what are we to do, just give up and walk away? Whether you are a parent, teacher, administrator or resident, we all have an obligation to the Mineola School District.

We need a better dialogue in our community to achieve our goals. We need to really find out why the budget did not pass. I don't think it was just a matter of dollars and cents, but maybe it was. Whatever the case, the board needs to hear from you, no matter how you voted. Residents need to hear what steps the district is making to improve test scores and the like. If you truly cannot make a board meeting, why not pick up the phone and speak to our administrators or board members, or better yet, send an email through the Mineola School District's truly computer friendly website. If every resident made just one or two board meetings a year, what an impact that would have! I feel that the administrators would get a better sense of what this community wants and residents would learn what is really going on in our district. Unfortunately, hearing school information from your neighbor may not contain all the facts. I recently read a Letter to the Editor in which a resident complained about how the school district should not be providing kindergarten classes, as that is something the parents should do. How sad that we have residents who are uninformed as to the power of early education. Residents must become better informed as to what is happening, not just in your child or grandchild's class, but on a larger scale. How can this happen? Come to the Board of Education Meetings (even if it is just a couple of times a year) and ask questions. The meetings are open to the public and the dates and times are on the school calendar, website and in the Mineola American. It is also important for the Board to hear about how you liked something that was done. No, they are not perfect. They cannot "fix" everything, but I do believe that better communication between the board and the public needs to be achieved.

It is through dialogue and hard work that changes will be made in our district. Whether you like the new administration or not, it is the responsibility of the residents in this community to make their voices heard. I believe that this board and administration are very approachable and willing to listen and learn. Have mistakes been made? Of course, but tell me what school board pleases 100% of the people all the time. It is very easy to become part of the problem and very hard to become part of the solution, but it can be done. Most people who know me know that my favorite expression is, "You can't do it over." You will never be able to repeat your children's education. I know that things cannot be changed overnight but I do feel that this district has been taking very strong steps in the right direction. If residents became more involved, I believe it will happen that much sooner. It takes more than just a once-a-year school budget vote to let the district know what you are thinking and needing. These are your children. These are your tax dollars. These are your property values. Is anyone listening?

Chris Napolitano