Dan Torres' Comments Before His YES! Vote on 12/16/09

At our Middle School there is a program called Step Up. This is where students are rewarded for doing the right thing, and sometimes doing the right thing isn’t always the easiest thing. I think that perfectly describes our current project. In my opinion we as a board have “Stepped Up.” We have acted responsibly financially, environmentally, and in how we are utilizing 21st century technology.

Fifty million dollars is obviously a lot of money and simply a burden. Sadly, that burden has fallen on us. I wish that some other board had taken the initiative in repairing our Middle School facility but they didn’t. Now it is our job to take the initiative to do something for our community and students. The cost of doing nothing is far greater than the cost of the project both literally and figuratively.

I think that sometimes due to my age people may have the misconception that I don’t feel the current economic times that we are in. This simply isn’t true, I am balancing 16 credits and three jobs and with a month of school off I am currently looking for a fourth... so if anyone would like to hire me please talk to me later. I just graduated high school and I had to watch my friends who did all the right things and work so hard for so many years have to go to their second or third school choice or even community college because they couldn’t afford the price tag.

In closing, today I was asked during public comment if I felt that the district or the Middle School had failed me… I think it is well known by anyone who attended my graduation that I was class Vice President, a member of National Honor Society, and that I graduated with an Advanced Placement Diploma. What isn’t as well known is that while I was in Middle School and through the beginning of my high school career I was in entirely remedial classes. There were few people who didn’t graduate with my class but most of them came out of those classes that I was once in.

I am not saying that it was necessarily because of the Middle School facility that I attended nearly all remedial classes, but the closest I ever came to failing a class was because of that facility. When I was in 7th grade I had a knee injury and due to the layout of the building I was unable to attend one of my classes. I made it to two weeks out of a ten week marking period and I came very close to failing. So do I think that the Middle School failed me? No, but I think more could have and probably should have been done for me. With all that said I will be voting yes tonight and on February 9th.

Daniel Torres
New Paltz