I’m a senior citizen who has been living full-time in Little Compton for five years (seasonal for the previous 35-plus years). As I listen to some of my fellow elder neighbors, sometimes I hear them say “Do we even need a school in this town? We don’t have any kids here anymore, why are our tax dollars being spent on a school?”

This notion breaks my heart, and is so near-sighted. We all benefit from a strong intergenerational community. While our hard working farmers, fishermen, teachers, first-responders, caregivers, town workers, restaurant staff, and workers of all kinds go to work, their children should be engaged in high-quality accessible education in their hometown. Not everyone can afford private school, not everyone can (or wishes to) homeschool, but everyone deserves access to a good education. It's for the children, but it is also for all of us. I love hearing their exuberant, youthful voices at recess. Having a great school in our town is the heart of our year-round community. If we lose the school in town, there’s a good chance that the year-round community will disappear too. This could become a place that is only for vacationers who school their kids elsewhere. That’s not a Little Compton I want to see.

I write this now because when I see the Republican candidates saying things like “limiting state and federal governmental influence in schools,” it is obvious that that would also threaten state and federal funding of our schools, leaving Little Compton taxpayers holding the bag. If our school funding is threatened, the existence of the school is threatened. Some in our community would be happy to see the school closed down. I am not sure if these candidates are in that camp, but surely their short-sighted ideas about ignoring RI Dept Of Ed and federal education guidelines in favor of enforcing something called a “traditional back-to-basics curriculum” based on “small town values” could lead to expensive litigation, or the loss of school funding. As I’ve heard Megan Gonzalez say, "Our kids are not ‘basic’ kids. They are great kids and they deserve an exceptional school.” Which they are so lucky to have.

I want to see our Little Compton kids succeed not only in our small town, but anywhere they choose to go. 

Not to mention, if the real estate and rental market carries on the way the Republicans have continued to allow, these kids will never be able to live in the small town they grew up in. This election season, I’ll be voting for the Democratic candidates. They each have children attending Wilbur and McMahon, and all have volunteered their time for different school activities. They want to support and sustain an exceptional school, making sure kids of different races and identities feel welcomed and included, and who are smart about how to make sure our school gets funded sustainably. And that is just “Common Sense!"

Claudia McNeil

Little Compton