To the Editor:

As a concerned parent and citizen of Canton, I have been following the proposed merger of Canton and Potsdam middle and high schools and attended several presentations by Superintendent Gregory and members of the committee who worked so hard to evaluate the pros and cons of such a merger.

It is apparent that our communities have a very important decision to make at the end of October regarding the quality of education we provide our children with the limited resources available to us.

While I agree the longer bus rides is a concern and that it is inconvenient for families to have to travel further to attend school events, I believe that ensuring our students receive a high quality education outweighs these and that a merger is the only possible way to do so.

Superintendents Brady and Gregory are doing an outstanding job of trying to communicate the funding issues facing both districts and the reasons the joint committee supports the merger. I am concerned that I see so few people attending these presentations and that many parents I talk to don’t understand the severity of the cuts we are facing if the merger doesn’t happen.

Do we really want to maintain separate middle and high schools if it requires cutting Pre-K and kindergarten, AP offerings, a variety of sports, languages, music and art courses? Course offerings have already become so limited and class size so large at Canton the past few years due to budget cuts and it will only get worse for both schools without a merger.

It would be wonderful if the state government would save us and correct the funding formula, but that is not going to happen in the near future. We have this chance now to preserve and enhance the education provided to the children of Canton and Potsdam.

I only hope we are listening to those who have worked so hard this past year to study the issue and understand how detrimental it will be to our communities if we don’t vote for this merger.

Carol Gable

Canton