IT TAKES A COMMINITY

My time here in CLARKSBURG has convinced me more than ever of the need for COMMUNITY SCHOOLS. You see in NORTH VIEW, a neighborhood in CLARKSBURG. A neighborhood because at a couple of thousand more than twenty, my home town isn't really big enough to have suburbs. In fact we could be a suburb of another big city if there was one near by but there is not.

Thanks to FACEBOOK, I was able tor reconnect with an old classmate, JAMIE LAFFERTY PATTERSON, so on my vacation I thought I would pay her a visit. I had went through elementary school and all the way through high school with. We never ran around together when we were growing up. I think in sixth grade we were in the school safety patrol together. We got badges and a bright orange harness identifying us centurions on the street corners to help the younger kids cross the street. Of course, I was Captain. I was always lucky that way.

Anyway I stopped by with my son and we sat on JAMIE'S front porch with her and her boyfriend We reminisced and talked about old times like best friends, not just the FACEBOOK friends that we had become. Reminiscing about old times brought a reconnection to memories of a happier time when I wasn't hostage to the whims of reality.

Next a couple of days ago to a n old neighbor who had recently became a FACEBOOK friend. He lived at the bottom of the hill and was a few years younger than me. His name is JEFF TOQUINTO and like me he has moved away from the old home place but unlike me he didn't move far and in fact his older brother still lives there.

JEFF is a writer now for the local paper's attempt at Internet survival. I strongly ADMIRE his work and I share it often. We never played on the same teams or even went to the same ball games but there was an immediate bonding of familiarity that was comforting. We hugged. It was like family.

These are examples of why COMMUNITY SCHOOLS are so important. You build life-long relationships that you can't put a price on. No TEST SCORE shows that.