LETTER: Let the people vote

Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government.”

I would like to commend the Carlton School Board for providing voters with detailed information on various building and consolidation scenarios. The public’s request for this information was made clearly known through their Community Advisory Committee’s Strategic Planning Report, and the board has responded.

The school board has now given voters the information they need to make an informed choice. However, as individual board members they still face a choice: kill the two-site consolidation idea now, or pursue state aid and then let the voters choose?

Whether they support the two-site or single-site option, or no consolidation at all, the board members’ choice now must not be about what they personally think is the best way to “serve the kids,” or how to “do it right.”

No, those considerations have been debated for 60 years, and we still have arrived at no agreement.

One’s personal opinions, regardless of what they may be, are just too small for this moment.

At Carlton’s public informational meeting on Oct. 24, a clear solution was offered by past school board member Rick Santkuyl: “The only way to get a real answer is to get a vote. The answer is to let democracy work.”

The Carlton School Board has put needed information before the public. They should now lay aside contentious internal debate, and put the question to the community. Should Carlton and Wrenshall consolidate with a two-site plan?

Allow this referendum to go to the voters, where it belongs. Let the people vote.

Timothy Soden-Groves

Carlton