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The good of the many: Residents of Holt and Kearney can learn a few things from Spock
COLUMN
By: Emily Hoffman
I'm a huge science fiction fan. I like it in all forms: TV, movies, books and my imagination. During my childhood I avidly watched old “Star Trek” reruns.
On days when I need to put my brain on auto, I'll tune in to watch Captain James T. Kirk, Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy solve the problems of the universe.
When the movies began coming out I never missed one in the theater. My favorite, “The Wrath of Khan,” I purchased. I love the scenes when Kahn takes over the Enterprise and seeks to pay revenge upon Kirk.
I won't relay the entire movie, just the end where the crew is seconds from destruction unless they can get the warp drive to work again, and they can't. Spock came up with the final solution. He entered a chamber filled with radiation to repair the ship and save the day.
Before he died he reminded Kirk of why he sacrificed his life to restore the warp drive.
Spock said: “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.”
That movie kept playing in my head on Tuesday night as I sat at a roundtable in one of the commons area at Kearney Junior High. School teachers, administrators and school board members discussed the Kearney School Board goals and how to accomplish those given the limited amount of funding available to the district.
One of those options presented for discussion is to close the Holt school and absorb the students, currently 144, into the Kearney schools. Included in the options were 30 percent cuts to the extracurricular activities budget and changes teacher health care.
Writing on this topic takes me back nearly three years ago when I lived in Nebraska. I wrote about the schools at my old paper in Wauneta: A tiny paper in a tiny town with a consolidated school district. I lived in Palisade, the stepchild town, and worked 20 miles down the road in Wauneta, in the town that agreed to take Palisade into its school district.
The year I left, the district faced some very hard questions about closing the K-6 facility in Palisade and bringing all the kids to Wauneta. The district, and many like it in Southwest Nebraska, had severe funding problems due to declining student population, a prolonged drought and decline in school funding from the state.
The consolidation that happened in the 1990s caused bad feelings. Palisade always felt as though they were getting the short end of the deal and believed Wauneta wanted them to roll over and obey on command. The town where I lived believed the other, bigger town had it out for them.
Since I worked in one town and had a house and children in school in the other, I had a different perspective from most people living in Palisade. When discussions came up about closing schools, moving kids and saving the district, I didn't view it as the superintendent and school board were out to get my town. I covered all the meetings. I had weekly contact with these people, some from Palisade. I believed the administration and the district were seeking the best solutions to a looming crisis.
The situation in Kearney isn't much different; we're in a money crunch because of new building, district growth and no new funding. Our schools must have increased technology for kids to learn and thrive in this century. There are people of the opinion that they learned just fine with books and a chalkboard 50 years ago, but times have changed. We must have better security. We must pay our teachers more to compete with other districts.
Our students will get left behind unless something is done soon. When the schools begin to decline, it's not long before the housing market and the business environment follow.
As the discussion about raising funding progresses, we need to remove our perceptions and feelings from the issues and look at the facts before making a decision.
No one solution will make everyone happy. If the district builds a new school in Holt, it's nearly certain that some Kearney kids will have to be bused there to help fill the school. If Holt Elementary closes its doors, then those students will need to come to Kearney. If other options are presented after more work sessions are held, some people will be pleased, others won't.
Whether Holt has to sacrifice a bit or Kearney does, residents of both communities must take a deep breath and remember what Spock said: “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.”
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On days when I need to put my brain on auto, I'll tune in to watch Captain James T. Kirk, Spock and Dr. Leonard McCoy solve the problems of the universe.
When the movies began coming out I never missed one in the theater. My favorite, “The Wrath of Khan,” I purchased. I love the scenes when Kahn takes over the Enterprise and seeks to pay revenge upon Kirk.
I won't relay the entire movie, just the end where the crew is seconds from destruction unless they can get the warp drive to work again, and they can't. Spock came up with the final solution. He entered a chamber filled with radiation to repair the ship and save the day.
Before he died he reminded Kirk of why he sacrificed his life to restore the warp drive.
Spock said: “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.”
That movie kept playing in my head on Tuesday night as I sat at a roundtable in one of the commons area at Kearney Junior High. School teachers, administrators and school board members discussed the Kearney School Board goals and how to accomplish those given the limited amount of funding available to the district.
One of those options presented for discussion is to close the Holt school and absorb the students, currently 144, into the Kearney schools. Included in the options were 30 percent cuts to the extracurricular activities budget and changes teacher health care.
Writing on this topic takes me back nearly three years ago when I lived in Nebraska. I wrote about the schools at my old paper in Wauneta: A tiny paper in a tiny town with a consolidated school district. I lived in Palisade, the stepchild town, and worked 20 miles down the road in Wauneta, in the town that agreed to take Palisade into its school district.
The year I left, the district faced some very hard questions about closing the K-6 facility in Palisade and bringing all the kids to Wauneta. The district, and many like it in Southwest Nebraska, had severe funding problems due to declining student population, a prolonged drought and decline in school funding from the state.
The consolidation that happened in the 1990s caused bad feelings. Palisade always felt as though they were getting the short end of the deal and believed Wauneta wanted them to roll over and obey on command. The town where I lived believed the other, bigger town had it out for them.
Since I worked in one town and had a house and children in school in the other, I had a different perspective from most people living in Palisade. When discussions came up about closing schools, moving kids and saving the district, I didn't view it as the superintendent and school board were out to get my town. I covered all the meetings. I had weekly contact with these people, some from Palisade. I believed the administration and the district were seeking the best solutions to a looming crisis.
The situation in Kearney isn't much different; we're in a money crunch because of new building, district growth and no new funding. Our schools must have increased technology for kids to learn and thrive in this century. There are people of the opinion that they learned just fine with books and a chalkboard 50 years ago, but times have changed. We must have better security. We must pay our teachers more to compete with other districts.
Our students will get left behind unless something is done soon. When the schools begin to decline, it's not long before the housing market and the business environment follow.
As the discussion about raising funding progresses, we need to remove our perceptions and feelings from the issues and look at the facts before making a decision.
No one solution will make everyone happy. If the district builds a new school in Holt, it's nearly certain that some Kearney kids will have to be bused there to help fill the school. If Holt Elementary closes its doors, then those students will need to come to Kearney. If other options are presented after more work sessions are held, some people will be pleased, others won't.
Whether Holt has to sacrifice a bit or Kearney does, residents of both communities must take a deep breath and remember what Spock said: “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few, or the one.”