Your Opinions

By Staff
Your vote is important
Editor:
This is a letter to all the Band and JROTC parents of the Morgan County School System. As you know there will be a Primary Election on Tuesday, June 6, for several different positions within our political system. One of the most important and closer to home positions is for a new superintendent of the Morgan County School System.
We have all heard the complaints about band, JROTC and other extracurricular activities sometimes being overlooked because of all the more important athletic teams i.e., football, basketball, softball, baseball, soccer just to name a few. The Morgan County School System is not the only school system that has this problem, it's a problem in almost every system regardless of how good their teams are. We all know that all students are not jocks, and all students are not going to college even though they are encouraged to do so. Some of our students take electives that teach them job skills and offer excellent scholarships, some as much as $68,000- $100,000.
On the evening of May 16 at the Morgan County Board of Education all six candidates (five Republicans and a Democrat) for the superintendent's position were seated and all were asked six of the 11 questions that were selected from previously submitted questions from teachers, administrators and other personnel.
One of these questions was in regard to approving a P.E. credit for marching band and JROTC as allowed by the Alabama Department of Education. Each candidate had their own opinion about this, some agreed, some wanted to check on it and others would not allow it if it meant loosing coaches. Hey, we are only talking about 30-40 students being affected by this credit, so it's doubtful it would affect any coach's position. This is not the only issue as you all know and perhaps it's not the most important issue, but it is an issue that you as a voter can change by selecting the right person for the right job.
Back in the early 1980s there was an ad campaign to get more people to vote. It was this nice loud voice that just plainly said "get out and vote!" Well now is the time! Now is the time to pick the right candidate for the job. Now is the time to make a difference in your child's or grandchild's future. Now you need to be making plans to go vote at your designated voting place and on June 6th please go vote.
They said that more people voted on the American Idol show than people voted during our general elections. Isn't that a shame?
Gordon W. Horton
MSG(R), U.S.Army
Army Instructor, JROTC