To the editor:

We are writing jointly to our friends and fellow community members. We are Sam Read and Jodi Helman Multer. Many of you know us. We have an age gap of 30-plus years and we are on opposing sides of the school start time debate. We shouldn’t be such good friends, but we are.

Sam served as class president from 2016-2018. He played running back and defensive end on the BHS varsity football team, and he ran on the track team throughout his four years at BHS. You may recognize him as one of the most prominent students of RIACT. He admires and respects the teachers at BHS, especially Coach TR. He feels strongly about keeping the school times as-is for a variety of reasons.

Jodi is a tax-paying homeowner who has been volunteering in schools and libraries most of her adult life. She currently volunteers at HMS where her daughter will soon graduate to the middle school. She works tirelessly to promote reading and literacy to young people. You may recognize her from talking about books with your kids. She admires and respects the teachers in this district, and she is happy to call several members of the school committee friends. She feels the pinch every quarter when it’s time to pay taxes. She feels strongly about changing the school start times for a variety of reasons.

But this letter isn’t to inform you why we have our reasons. We want to let you know that we are friends who admire each other and respect each other’s opinions. We both love this town and community. We both want to see it thrive. And we both value the many sides of this debate. We are trying not to focus on the vitriol from both sides, but we cannot help but see how this is tearing our community apart.  

Please, we are begging you, stop spewing hate towards one another. 

Stop calling each other names. 

Stop with the rhetoric and political agendas. 

You all have your reasons and they are all valid. But we implore you to reach out to each other and talk. Not behind Facebook or anonymous letters, but to actually start a conversation.

We encourage you to talk to each other as neighbors and not as polarizing opponents that we see too often in Washington and in the media. In order to solve our problems, we must have open lines of communications in order to work smoothly and solve our problems. We are all Barringtonians and we all live here for the same reason. We want what’s best for our kids, we love our teachers and we love calling this beautiful town home.  Let’s work together and let’s move forward.

Sincerely,

Sam Read  

Barrington

Jodi Helman Multer  

Barrington