I attended the meeting hosted by the Rugby Public School administration and board on May 24. Even though my oldest child is now an upcoming freshman at Rugby High, it was very interesting and informative to have a tour of all the classrooms that need upgrading. Neither my husband nor I attended Rugby High School, so it was very worthwhile to see how badly outdated our children’s high school is. We live on a farm 9 miles from Esmond. We are now in the Rugby School District since Esmond closed in 1992. Our children, one high schooler and two boys currently at Little Flower, travel 23 miles one way to get to school each day. It is the nature of our rural area, families are smaller, young people leave, and schools close. Some may argue against improving our school buildings because our enrollment is decreasing. Remember, Rugby is STILL a “big” town. You have the potential to draw families from surrounding areas. You have the potential to retain young families in our area by proving that we DO want to improve what we have. Why should we not have new and improved facilities for those of us that choose to stay in this rural area and live? Upgraded and new facilities may be a DRAW for those young doctors, nurses, farmers, teachers and other professionals that may have the option to choose our town. I applaud the administration and school board for recognizing that now is the time to update and improve our school. I want to encourage all of you to vote Yes on Tuesday to keep our children in a safer, more modern facility.

Jaeger is a Rugby school district resident