Friday, April 2, 2010

Think about this....."shameless"

shame·less (shmls)adj.
1. Feeling no shame; impervious to disgrace.
2. Marked by a lack of shame: a shameless lie.

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The other day we posted the following statement on our Facebook:

think about this.....We have had 1000 people look at our blog, IF each one of those people donated $10 think about how much money we would have? If each of those people got 10 family members to donate $10 too....hmmmmm....well the possiblilities are impressive. TEXT SOS to 25383 and make a difference!

Which sparked a comment stated as "shameless".....

That got me thinking. I am ASHAMED of the following:

1. I am ashamed that our government does not hold education in a higher regard.
2. I am ashamed that our STATE is taking $313/student away from our school district. (And that is just the start, they haven't finished the budget yet)
3. I am ashamed that more people do not think this is their problem.
4. I am ashamed that we have to tell our kids that they might not have music, sports, GATE, school buildings...etc.
5. I am ashamed that this problem has become so big that there aren't many options or solutions.
6. I am ashamed that our Kindergarten classes next year will be 30 or more kids per class.
7. I am ashamed that our teachers are faced with the burden of picking up the slack where our budget leaves off.

....well you get my point...I am ASHAMED of quite a bit....BUT

I AM NOT ASHAMED of the the follow:

I am not ashamed of being part of the solution to this monumental problem. I am not ashamed to ask those around me to help out our children. I infact, feel it is my responsibility to do all that I can to help. I know that some people will not be able to help monitarily, but I also know that there are plenty of people that can help. Asking people to donate $10 does not SHAME me, asking them to ask 10 family members or friends, does not SHAME me. Sitting back and doing NOTHING would make me feel shameful.

SO....am I shameless....YES!

7 comments:

  1. Well said!!!! Thanks so much for posting!!

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  2. pgoodson@landmarkimage.comApril 2, 2010 at 10:11 AM

    I love it! That's why you are part of the solution! Great new article on Channel 13 last night!

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  3. I couldn't have said it better myself! Thanks!!!

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  4. My point is really about asking for the money with no accountability. Where is the money spent? Will you provide a detailed account of where every dime contributed is spent here on this blog? Most parents would like to make sure the money is spent for the kids and not administrative costs.

    Thanks

    Dwayne

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  5. Dwayne,
    Thank you for your honest response. If it is alright, I would like to direct you to a previous post:

    http://vusdsos.blogspot.com/2010/03/sos-committee-is.html

    In this post we listed out as much info as we have available to us.

    I would really like to make this statement though, these are terrible times and our district is faced with a drastically smaller budget next year. This is not due to poor management, this is an actual cut.

    We have two choices:

    1. Wait for the axe to drop. Wait until there aren't any programs like music, sports, GATE, or even schools. We can all complain together about how terrible it is and ask each other how we can let it get so bad....

    OR

    2. We can do SOMETHING, ANYTHING. In our case the parents have joined forces and decided to raise as much money as we can. We may or maynot reach our goal, but when all is said and done, we can sit and say that we did ALL that we could. If the money that we raise allows us to keep 1 more teach or a music program or any other item that would be cut otherwise...then for us, that is enough.

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  6. Hey Dwayne,
    Really.....accountability of a $10.00 donation is your concern?? Oh my....I gave a $20.00 donation to Junior Giants yesterday and they didn't give me a full breakdown of there fund allocation. They must be another shameless organization. Dwayne - be part of the solution. If you have a concern...ask. Better yet help...Do some research on how best the funds could be used or where they are needed most and then provide suggestions.

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  7. Wow! Someone is actually asking for accountability. Right on!

    After reading the link referenced to answer Dwayn’s question I’m appalled that anyone would be expected to just give money with no explanation as to how it will be spent. This is not just $10 but a potential Million dollars we as a community are raising to give to the school district. This is more than just a budget issue it is also a quality of education issue. The school district works for us and should be obligated to spell out how the money will be spent in supporting the quality of our children’s education.

    Next year when we will still have a short fall in the budget, what then? More donations expected from the community to be self reliant? What about the cuts in the fire department, the increase in our water bill? Should we be self taxing to support those local government budgetary down falls as well?

    With the revaluing of our homes due to the real estate crash our county is not generating the revenue it needs to operate. I propose everyone add $100 to their property taxes to help out. Never mind how they will spend it we trust them to do the right thing.

    Let see- how many taxpayers in Solano County just give $100 it will……………….

    Yes this crisis is important enough to demand accountability!

    Don’t back down Dwayn! Right on!

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