Students speak in support of levies

Editor's note: The following are the text of all the statements the Anaconda Junior/Senior High School honors senior government students made in support of the school safety levies at Monday night's trustee candidate forum, listed in the order they were given. These statements are being reprinted as letters to the editor.

In the current state of the world, security is a priority we cannot take for granted. There has been an increase in need for security especially in schools across the country. Our school district is looking to improve and increase our security through an upcoming levy. The children of our school district are the future of our community – your community. 

– Tanner Cromwell

With the levy being passed there will be a tax increase on every property, with each $100,000 your property is worth you will get a $6.50 tax increase. For example, if your house is worth $300,000 it would be a $19.50 tax increase. Depending on what mortgage you have it could be a monthly or yearly fee. Please consider the schools and children’s safety when voting on this levy. 

– Rylen Gaona

We ask that you vote on the levy to fund security cameras. The importance of the levies help us ensure the implementation of security cameras. Security cameras help us guarantee student and teacher safety, deter crime and misconduct, mistreatment of students by teachers and prevent possible incidents. Public schools reported that 61 to 91 percent use security cameras. Those security cameras were the cause of a 12% drop in crime rates throughout school districts. Obviously we want to ensure student and teacher safety in and outside of school and cameras are a step in the right direction to achieve that successful outcome. 

– Billy Farmer

When it comes to safety, security cameras are very important. Making sure nothing dangerous or harmful is brought into the school and making sure nothing gets stolen from the school is just one of the few reasons security cameras help ensure safety for everyone in our schools. False accusations and conflicts between students or faculty will be solved quickly by looking back on the security cameras. Not only safety but holding our teachers and students accountable at all of Anaconda’s schools is very important. Knowing that you are always being watched during the workday ensures responsibility and hard work. We expect nothing but the best when it comes to our students and faculty. This is why security cameras are so important. Security cameras are also important outside of the school. Without a parking lot, parking can get tight. I know multiple classmates that have had their car hit and the person ran. With cameras in place, people driving by school property will drive safer and be liable for accidents. Most conflicts between students happen outside of the school anyway, so having cameras watching outside of the school will catch these incidents and make people responsible for their actions. Installing new security cameras inside and outside of the schools will make the students and faculty respectful, responsible and make our schools much safer. 

– Cory Galle

We ask you to vote yes on the levies to fund secure doors. Anaconda schools are equipped with a door system that allows for only authorized personnel to enter the schools. These locks were installed to each of our schools and have had a positive impact. Staff members are all given a key fob that gives them access into their building. Students must push a button that notifies the office, the office can either decline or allow entry. Due to the installed camera, they can see whoever requests to enter, and decide whether it’s safe or not to unlock doors. These levies would allow for this door system to remain in use. It’s important to regulate who is coming in and out of our schools. Students and teachers should have a safe learning environment with locked and regulated doors.

– Makena Patrick

When you think about the students of Anaconda School District, safety is important. Knowing who is coming in and out of our education buildings is critical to the lives of us children. Keeping us safe should be the number one priority. Without the funds, our school wouldn’t have the capability of keeping these lock systems, and therefore the schools couldn’t control who comes into the buildings. Passing these levies would be worth ensuring kids’ and teachers’ safety. We want to send kids to a school where they can learn while knowing their safety will be put above all else. Think about the youth population of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County, and how much today’s society needs to be protected in education buildings. Without these levies, our schools will not have the funds to maintain our door systems. We need your vote to get these levies passed, so we can continue to feel safe coming to school each morning. 

– Cali Pesanti

We need school nurses to provide healthcare for students. School nurses help children by providing screening, helping injured children and giving referrals for health conditions. Some students either can’t afford, or don’t have the opportunity to go to the hospital so they won’t get medical assistance unless we have school nurses to provide for sick or injured children. We need these levies to help fund two school nurses. It’s a small cost for a high cause. Overall they will help promote a healthy school environment, and our town would benefit greatly from more school nurses. We ask you to vote yes on the levies to fund school nurses.

– Larkin Galle

Having more than one nurse is important to not only the students in the school district but also the nurses we employ. By being able to continue employing two nurses for three different schools, which is around about 1,000 students to care for when injured – if we went back to only one school nurse, students would have to wait absurd amounts of time to be treated and our one solo nurse would have to run back and forth around three schools, which I believe is not only an unfair ask but a completely unreasonable one. We ask you to vote for these levies to make our school the best it can be for students.

– Maniyah Lunceford

We ask that you vote yes on these levies so we can increase the amount of psychologists. A big issue our school deals with is the amount of psychologists we have. Montana has been ranked in the top five of highest suicide rates in the last 40 years. With suicide being a major topic in today’s society, we need more school psychologists now more than ever. Currently we have two school psychologists for the entire district, and the money we have for the salary is running out and we won’t have more to pay them without this levy. This would lead to cuts of salary for staff being made or even potentially some being fired. We need our staff and without this levy, we could lose a few including our current psychologists.

– Tage Hill 

A school psychologist would aid our school district. In the school setting, psychologists support behavior and mental health of the students, which is crucial for our students’ quality of life. Montana is third in the country for suicide rates, this can begin to end now with the hiring of an official mental health specialist in our schools. Benefits to receiving mental health support in school include improved self-esteem, less interruptions in learning, increased quality of relationships and self-awareness, and strengthened emotional maturity. One in five students suffer from mental health disorders, and about 80% of kids in need of service don’t receive it. A school psychologist would lower these statistics and provide a safer environment for your kids.

– Kennady Perrenoud

Thank you everyone for attending the 2024 school board forum. I’d also like to thank the Anaconda Leader for supplying refreshments to make this event as successful as possible. Vote for our levy to ensure our community’s youth a safe and comfy learning environment as well as making it fun to learn so they all can grow up and be successful in their everyday lives. 

– Colin Sampson

As this forum comes to a close, remember that voting is crucial because it’s a way for individuals to have a say in the decisions that affect their lives and their communities. Vote for making sure our school environment is safe and secure. Every vote counts toward building a better future. People that have the ability to vote should exercise this right every election, whether it involves electing city officials, state officials or federal officials. It’s our responsibility to make sure that we vote to ensure that our voices are heard. 

– Aidan Tuss