Article July 23, 2012 ISSUE

Praying for a school community

Suzanne Smedley

When I began looking for a new home five years ago, a neighborhood with a strong sense of community was top on my list of must-haves. As it turned out, I found a condominium in a lovely old home just a stone’s throw from the center of a working-class town with strong community roots. The church I now attend—one of many within walking distance of one another—is just around the corner.

While I don’t have children in the local school district, most of the children in our Sunday School attend the local public schools. A couple of months ago, the mother of four of our students e-mailed the church members one afternoon alerting us to proposed budget cuts that would curtail certain language programs, and also music programs (for which the district is known), at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. The cuts would affect not only her own children but many others. Parents were upset, and there was to be a meeting that evening with school officials to discuss the cuts. The mother asked for our collective prayers.