To the Editor:

When I heard that Canton and Potsdam School Districts were proposing to merge, I did not like the idea. What convinced me otherwise was this: Even though the merger really only buys us a positive fund balance for 7 years, the cost of not merging is far worse: a serious reduction in the quality of education for the students in these schools.

There is always some competition between short-term and long-term solutions. I resist short-term bandaids that patch something up and hold out for long term solutions.

In this case, I can’t. Because primary and secondary education determines so much of what a student is able to do in their life, I can’t hold out for some better solution at the cost of their education. At some point in time there will be, in fact there must be, some fundamental change in the way we deliver primary and secondary education, but that change will not happen any sooner if we oppose this merger.

For the simple fact that failure to merge will reduce opportunities for our children at a time when good education can make the difference between prospering and struggling, I support the merger and I encourage everyone in the two districts to vote for it on Thursday.

For more information on the merger, I recommend a conversation with the Superintendents taped at Clarkson University and the synopsis of the merger study.

Both can be found on the Potsdam Central School website: http://www.potsdam.k12.ny.us/.

Robin McClellan

Stockholm