As of yet, I have heard little about the smaller schools that will be affected by the upcoming education mill levy.

So far, we haven’t heard much about the importance of Yampa Valley High School in Steamboat Springs, because there aren’t many champions for alternative education. A society should be judged by how it treats its members who struggle for success, not how it honors glory.

The need to support the students who can succeed in an alternative school setting will increase in the future and will also be important in earlier grades. There is a potential need for an alternative middle school, but space limitations are a real issue.

With the passage of 3A and 3B, this space limitation could be addressed, supporting Yampa Valley High School as well as a potential alternative middle school, allowing those important curricular entities to thrive. All students have potential that needs to be fulfilled in appropriate facilities for alternative education.

The students of North Routt County who attend the North Routt County Charter School also need to be factored into the big picture. North Routt County is a demographically young community that is growing. There are 90-plus NRCCS students who will share in the mill levy override funding and end up at Steamboat Springs High School.

Currently, there are parents who drive their students from Steamboat up to Clark for the excellent educational opportunities at the North Routt Charter School and because of overcrowding at Steamboat elementary and middle school. If it is a good school that meets the educational and life needs of students, distance doesn’t seem to make a difference as indicated by the growing number of Steamboat students choosing to attend NRCCS in Clark.

The new high school, improved middle school and third elementary school provided under this plan offer a quality of education that far outweighs some location adjustments.

I have worked as a counselor at Yampa Valley High for seven years and am a parent of students who live in Clark. I feel that these issues are important pieces of the puzzle and urge you to support these under-discussed factors by voting yes to 3A and 3B.

Molly Lotz

Alternative school educator, North Routt resident