To the Editor:

Remember the little boy who cried wolf? That eventually, when a real wolf came on the scene, no one believed him.

Well, this may be a good analogy for our schools.

It seems that every year for as long as I remember, schools have complained that they are underfunded.

Now that they really and truly are facing possible shut downs, dissolutions, bankruptcy, or one or more districts joining together, the general public is pretty much unconcerned: they’ve heard it all before. After all, the children are not only being well-educated, they now have prekindergarten.

If there is indeed a financial need, school boards and personnel need to be creative.

A quick and easy solution would be to sell advertising space in schools, on the buses, on the playing fields, etc. This is not the first time this idea has been brought up. Schools have said they don’t want to subject students to advertising…that if the schools did this, students would take the advertising to heart. Really? Students deal with advertising every waking hour. Remember, schools (and more specifically the students) do sell advertising space in year books. I can’t see the distinction.

Another possibility is to hold schools for half day sessions or on alternate days.

Another writer suggested students receive their schooling online.

Doesn’t it make more sense for Potsdam and Canton to absorb some of the smaller schools surrounding them than to put these to large schools together?

I’m sure there are other good ideas to finance our children’s education. Let’s be creative. Find new ways of thinking. And quit crying wolf.

Claudia MacDonald

Canton, NY