To the Editor,

Both my husband and I have spent our entire lives in Henning. We were born and raised, attended school, and now have decided to continue to make Henning our home. The reason we have decided to stay and make Henning our home isn’t because it’s where we’ve always been, it’s because we have felt the support and pride of our small community firsthand and want those same experiences for our future family. However, we also recognize that without the improvements our school needs, that same supportive upbringing we had, is at jeopardy not only for our future family, but the future of our community.

One of the main reasons we are so desperate for this referendum to pass regards the safety of our current and future students. Part of the administrative offices resides in the middle of the school; this makes it extremely difficult to safely identify and control who enters and leaves the building. The drop-off and pick up area also poses a huge safety threat. Currently our student pick up and drop off zone is in the same area as our bus loading zone. As our school buses drop off and pick up students, our students and parents must cross the same street as the only parking lot for the school is in that same area. 

My husband and I were three sport athletes, but also heavily involved in the theater and other groups our school continues to offer. It is because of this that we recognize the need for Q2 of the additional gym. The additional space is necessary to ensure that our athletes won’t be required to regularly report for early morning practices in the fall and winter months, for our theater groups to be able to rehearse, and for our band, choir, and elementary music groups to perform. In fact, out of every school in our conference, we are the only school without a third gym space.

As an ag family, we recognize the financial impact the referendum passing could make. However, because of the Ag2 tax credit, our financial obligation greatly decreases as it offers a 70 percent tax credit to agriculture property. We also recognize that if this referendum were not to pass and a levy was put in place, this tax credit would not apply. As a young couple just starting out, the financial impact of the loss of this Ag2 tax credit if the referendum did not pass, would be huge.

In small towns like ours, the school is the heart of the community. Without our help and support, we are at risk of losing it. I could continue for pages why we have made the decision to vote yes to both question one and two of this referendum. This is not a want, for the sake of our current and future students and the sake of our community, this is a need. For more information I invite you to visit the referendum webpage www.OurSchoolOurHornets.org or call the school requesting a tour to see firsthand the impact could make. I ask and invite you to please vote yes to question one and two not only to support our current and future students, but to support the future of our community as well. 

Alyssa Torgerson,

Henning