In the face of so much negative energy surrounding the school board recall effort, I’d like to offer a positive perspective. As an English mainstream teacher at Kings Beach Elementary School, I’m so excited about the coming reconfiguration! This will be a win-win for all of our children. It’s been a long time coming.-

Some of us have been trying to mix the North and West shore student populations since the 1980s. I believe that one of our noblest goals as Americans is to downplay the idea of social classes and to continually see more citizens engaging in the pursuit of happiness. Isn’t that what we do best in America? Doesn’t everyone deserve a shot at fulfilling their potential? That’s what this new school configuration addresses.-

The world has changed and continuing to send our English-speaking children to an almost all-white school does not prepare them for reality.- We have very little cultural and racial diversity at Tahoe. Let’s at least take advantage of what we do have and mix it up!-

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As I pack up my classroom and prepare for the big move, I have many mixed feelings. First, there’s fear. All this recall talk is pretty scary stuff!- But I’m confident that cooler heads will prevail and that we new-teachers will feel welcomed. Then there’s sadness over leaving my home school, which my own children-attended and to which I’ve been devoted for 23 years.-

I’ll sorely miss our Kings Beach Elementary culture, where there’s a strong sense of and#8220;We’re all in this together.and#8221; I’ll miss our incredible parents, who give so much of themselves, not just to their own children’s classes, but to all of our classes. But the most powerful feeling of all is one of excitement, of optimism, of satisfaction that we’re finally righting this wrong.

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A year from now, we’ll all look back on this uproar and ask ourselves what the big deal was. We are one community and this move will only make us stronger. We are all in this together. –