Your public school is a mirror of your community.  What do you want your community to look like?  Each classroom is a microcosm of society.  Lessons learned there serve us all , student and citizen alike.  As a public high school teacher for 30 years, I worked with students from all walks of life as they learned to value the strengths – and differences – of their classmates. In the classroom, on the sports field, in extra-curricular activities and student government, they worked together in unexpected ways. 

Some say that educating our children costs too much.  It is a fundamental investment the State must make so that we have successful business leaders, trained workers of all sorts, families with children, and educated citizens in Maine.  Money spent today on educating every young person to the best of our ability pays us back for years and years into the future. After all, democracy requires an educated populace. We, the people need to know how to work together, benefit from our various strength and differences, and  grow in unexpected ways. 

While substitute teaching at SAD 40, Bill Pluecker has seen the potential in our children to become the success Maine needs. Bill has also seen the serious lack of resources in the supplies closet, in technology, and in support of our teachers. We need to elect Bill Pluecker as the State Representative for Appleton, Hope, East Union, and Warren to help fix our schools and put the next generation of Maine on the right track for success.

Barbara Bentley lives in Hope