Middletown P.R.I.D.E.

BY LAURA RICHEY
Sept. 26, 2007

As the October 9 deadline for voter registration approaches, local parents are taking action to raise community awareness about the Middletown City School levies and how important voting is.

Parents Respond In Defense of Education, P.R.I.D.E., is an activist group of Middletown parents who are dedicated in “defending public education in Middletown for our children and generations to come,” P.R.I.D.E. Leader Suzie Beckmeyer said.

P.R.I.D.E members are parents who have spent countless hours volunteering and working in their schools. They know what is really at stake should our levy fail again.

The group was denied use of any Middletown public school due to title 9 issues, which basically says that if a group of parents meet in a public school it is considered a Parent Teacher Organization and thus would have conflicting interest in the levy.

Not letting the set back discourage P.R.I.D.E. they held their first meeting Sept. 12 at Miami University Middletown.

The Fairfield School District had 3 failed school levies in 2004, with a pass finally occurring in the November 2004 election. But before the levy finally passed, a Fairfield parent activist group formed and it is this group that greatly inspired P.R.I.D.E. at the Sept. 12 meeting.

“What business will want to come to Middletown? Who will move here? Who doesn’t value education?” asked MOMs (Moms on a mission) president Jeni Brodsky.

MOMs, a grassroots group of Fairfield mothers, are dedicated to protecting the educational future of children in their community. If their school levy didn’t pass, their schools would have been forced to operate at below state minimums, much like Middletown residents now face.

“You need to get business endorsements,” Jeni Brodsky, co-president of Moms On a Mission said. “Talk to them about property taxes and a less educated labor force,” she advised.

P.R.I.D.E held a second meeting Monday at Miami University Middletown to further discuss ways they can get involved. The meeting doubled in attendance and members are enthusiastic that more concerned citizens will climb on board once word gets out that the group is functioning and what their goals are.

Included in their decision was to get events organized prior to the October voter registration deadline as well as promote voting yes on the levy in November. These activities include

• Oct. 5 Homecoming parade
• Oct. 5 Homecoming Game at gates to register voters
• P.R.I.D.E. meeting 7 p.m. MUM (room TBA)
• Oct. 19 Home game Work Game to encourage citizens to vote yes
• Nov. 1 Line the streets with P.R.I.D.E. (Breiel Blvd.)
• Nov. 4 Prayer Vigil 7p.m. location TBA

The Middletown High School senior show-choir members ares decorating the front of the school and landscape with YES pumpkins.

“We’d like to see the pumpkins community wide,” said P.R.I.D.E. member, Rhonda Duff.

Other members will be handing out flyers at local school drop off and pick up sites in effort to bring voter awareness.

“Some people we will never convince. But if this is going to work, we need the face of our youth,” said Laurie Botsford, P.R.I.D.E. Member.

For more information on voter registration visit the Butler County Board of Election web site at http://www.butlercountyelections.org. For more information on the school levy visit http://www.middletowncityschools.com/.