Tuesday, February 27, 2024
A Reflection from State Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly on Public Schools Week:
As we celebrate Public Schools Week this year, I reflect and think about how fortunate I was to attend public schools, particularly my public high school. It gave me opportunities to grow my desire to learn and also discover who I was and who I’d grow up to be. I challenged myself to be a better public speaker and found my love of art, music, and literature through high school musicals, show choir, and reading "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," "The Chocolate Wars," and more for the first time.
Attending my public school gave me confidence in my abilities to attend college because I truly felt prepared to be successful and I felt that was the right path for me.
It's scary to think what our society would be like if we did not have public schools, and what that would mean for individuals, parents, and children to seek out educational opportunities on their own and have to pay for them privately.
More and more, I believe public schools are the essence of a free society and a strong democracy, and they are worth fighting for.
Happy Public Schools Week, everyone.