Published in the October 11 – October 24, 2017 Issue of Morgan Hill Life
The young people in our classrooms need the entire Morgan Hill community’s support to ensure they receive the best opportunity to enjoy productive and healthy lives. We encourage everyone — individuals, businesses and nonprofits — who care about the future of our community’s students to be involved at some level with our local schools. That’s why Morgan Hill Life is proud to present the second annual State of the Schools community meeting held 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center.
Like in many cities and towns across America, public education plays an important role in the quality of life for Morgan Hill. The community truly cares about the academic growth and character development of our young residents. The knowledge and wisdom of tomorrow’s leaders depends on the quality of education children receive now during the many hours a week they spend in classrooms. At the 2017 State of the Schools address, Morgan Hill Unified School District Superintendent Steve Betando will present to the community his views on the opportunities and challenges that local schools face. We warmly invite all members of the community to attend. A translator will be provided by the school district so that Spanish-speaking members of the community will be able to understand the discussion of the opportunities — and challenges — the MHUSD faces. The talk will be followed by a Q&A where people will be able to write their questions on an index card that Betando and other members of the school district administration can answer.
There was some discussion by members of the community that the State of the Schools should be held at a school venue. To be clear, this public forum is a Morgan Hill Life-sponsored event and not a school district event. We started this talk last year to help make stronger the connection between the MHUSD and the greater Morgan Hill community. We believe as a media business focused on the mission of protecting and enhancing the quality of life in our community, we have a duty to provide this forum to enable local public education concerns to be addressed in an open forum that enables intelligent and civil discussion of issues that might impact not just students, parents and teachers but the entire community.
Betando also encourages community members to attend the 2017 State of the Schools. “This is a great opportunity for the community to learn about the accomplishments we’ve made and hear about where we are headed in the future,” he said. “We hope to see you there.”
