The students in the junior Advanced Placement English classes have taken political action in hopes of getting the June 14 millage passed.
The Save Our School (S.O.S) organization, which the students started, split students into various committees to work in support of the millage.
Committee Co-chair Phillip Vails said, “Without the millage, the quality of education of Southfield students will decrease beyond what we have now.”
Another co-chair, William Massey, said, “This thing (the millage) is all about education, and anyone who is against education is against the mental development of the future.”
The students have attended school board meetings, they’ve joined forces with other “vote YES on the millage” committees and distributed informational millage flyers within the community.
Paul Cooper, vice-president of Southfield Public Schools, says, “People did it (approved millages) for us years ago. It’s time for us to give back so students receive the same quality education that we had.”
The students said that they were prompted to start their millage efforts after Lathrup Village’s “vote no” meeting was held on Apr. 21.
According to Thompson Middle School teacher Joyce Johnson, who attended the meeting out of curiosity, one resident yelped, “High cost- No Results” and another yelled, “High Cost-Dumb Kids.”
Vails and Massey say they were insulted by the comments and responded with the S.O.S. committee.
“They don’t understand what is at stake,” said Vails. “We depend on our extracurricular activities to put us through college” because some activities result in scholarships and other contribute to a student’s list of high school accomplishments.
Without passing the millage, there will be fewer extracurricular activities and electives. Bus transportation may also be in jeopardy.
Senior Lauren Smith received a full scholarship to LeMoyne Owens College in Tennessee for softball and volleyball. Without the millage, Vails says, future graduates won’t have such scholarship opportunities.