Fort Edward wins lottery, decides not to accept winnings
Let’s clean up those political signs with new ones
The Front Page
Afternoon Update
Thursday, October 7, 2021
By Ken Tingley
I doubt it surprised many people that the Fort Edward community passed up lottery-sized money - $50 million over 15 years - to keep its struggling school.
To keep the status quo.
To protect the community’s “identity.”
And keep their children close.
One person chirped out congratulations on Facebook to the citizens of Fort Edward for battling to save their school.
I couldn’t resist adding: “They also walked away from $50 million in state aid for their children’s education.”
Another person added, “Sometimes pride is wrong.”
But most seemed happy to slap them on the back for being so short-sighted.
When this was in the news back in March I was sure the merger was dead on arrival. Having followed the news in Fort Edward for three decades, it was clear to me this was about sports. This was a community that rarely embraced change.
It once fired its basketball coach after losing in the state basketball tournament. And they did it before he left the arena.
Another time, the board of education covered up a drinking incident involving members of the basketball team so it could play in the state basketball tournament. Afterward, they announced they had issued a punishment.
These days the school doesn’t have enough students to field a football team.
Like so many small rural communities, Fort Edward is struggling. There are fewer residents and fewer children to educate. I imagine the number of Advance Placement courses are fewer than in other schools. I suspect the number of extracurricular activities - orchestra, school plays, artistic opportunities - are fewer too.
For those of us that drive through Fort Edward on the way to someplace else, it doesn’t look much different than it did 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Maybe even a little worse off. The future does not appear much brighter either.
That is not a knock on the residents or the people that love living there, it is just the reality that many small, rural communities are dealing with upstate.
On March 8, I reminded Fort Edward residents that their decision should be based on what is in the best interest of the students.
After the school board voted 5-4 to kill a community-wide vote on the annexation, many residents said this was about keeping the town’s “identity.”
The children attending school in Fort Edward only know one experience. Change is difficult. It can even be traumatic, but doing nothing can be deadly, too.
The tax base will continue to erode in Fort Edward and regular folks will have to pay more and more in taxes just to keep the status quo. Unfortunately, the school will continue to cut back on programs, teachers and courses.
The reality is that today’s students will have a difficult time finding a career in Fort Edward or anywhere else in Washington County. That is not a knock on them, or their community, it is just the reality of upstate New York.
For them to survive, to have a future in the world, they need to have a good education that exposes them to more courses, extracurricular activities and experiences. The Fort Edward Board of Education voted against that this week to keep its current “identity.”
But without other tools to succeed in life, that is all they will have.
Those signs
It has been 11 months since the presidential election. I find it startling there are still home owners who sport signs supporting the losing presidential candidate.
This is unprecedented.
Never do I recall anyone maintaining their political signage so long.
It’s kind of like if I kept my Yankee flag flying during the Super Bowl to protest the success of the Red Sox.
The problem now is that the signs have faded and torn and really look unsightly. That makes the neighborhood homes look like rundown homes filled with carnival barkers.
If you are going to continue your support a presidential candidate year after the election, please replace the old signs with some shiny new ones. Of course, that just means more money in the candidate’s back pocket.
So are we losers and can’t survive in fort Edward? Those of us who graduated from there? I think your comments are extremely insulting and uniformed. I’m sure you’re so much better than me! HA
Stefanik should validate last election. Biden won. Great for our democracy!