After the Battle of Lake Erie, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry, a local boy made good, was quoted as saying “We have met the enemy and they are ours.”
A century and a half later cartoonist Walt Kelly paraphrased Perry in his Pogo comic strip with “We have met the enemy and they are us.” As a former high school history teacher, I believe Kelly’s quote applies to the current struggle in the Newport School System and a $100 million dollar building will not solve those problems.
The first priority should be to unify the three school districts on Aquidneck Island which could be done by the State cutting off all funds to these three districts until we do unify. In the meantime fix the roof and the plumbing.
Please vote NO on Proposition 2 and three communities can share the tax burden of the bond issue for a unified school district in the future.
Ken Urban
Newport
