Letter: Hoping for better Mendon

To the Editor:

As the next override vote approaches, I’d like to remind my fellow Mendon voters of one very important fact:  The town is not a business and can’t be run like one.  Businesses exist to make a profit for their shareholders.  Towns exist to provide quality of life, and through mutual contribution, to provide those things that few of us could provide individually.  We share that same type of responsibility for our school district with Upton.

I understand that there are some who voted against the school override because they didn’t like the iPad initiative or something else about MURSD, and so they voted no to make to make that point.  But I hope they ask themselves the following questions as they go to the polls this next time to reconsider the school district override:

How would I feel if library funding was cut and they had to reduce hours because someone else in town didn’t approve of the books they carry?   How would I feel if funding to the senior center was cut because someone else in town didn’t think that some of the programs they offered were worthwhile or they found them objectionable?  How would I feel if the police department budget was slashed because officers had acted in a way that someone else didn’t like? Or how would I feel if the beach was closed because someone else didn’t think that swimming lessons were a worthwhile thing to offer?  How about if someone else objected to a particular sport being played and so the parks budget was cut and fields were closed?

I assume that users of the town services mentioned above would think that it was absurd that those services would be cut because someone else didn’t like them.  I assume that the users of those services consider them valuable, and I assume that the users of those services can’t provide them alone, but require the community as a whole to support them.  I assume this because nobody is clamoring to make those cuts.

Well, that’s essentially what happened with the school override that didn’t pass.  Some of you objected to the iPads, or other things, and chose to punish those of us who value the service that MURSD provides by failing to pass the override that would’ve supported our school district and help it move forward.  It’s disappointing, to say the least, that the support wasn’t there.

So as voters again consider the school override, please think about how petty it is to do such great harm to the schools just to make a point or just to express your displeasure with the iPad program.  Remember that it hurts your fellow citizens who value the schools, and who continue to support the thing or things that you find valuable, and that make us a community.

I personally don’t use the library, the senior center, or the beach, and hope I never need the police, but I support all of those things because it makes our community better.  I plan to continue to support those things, and hope that my fellow voters in Mendon will take the same approach to supporting our schools.

Hoping for a better Mendon,

Peter Salenius

Mendon