Dear Putnam Valley Community and Staff:
October 14 is the last day in New York State to register to vote for November’s presidential election. We are hoping to urge all eligible voters to register and to vote, including our eighteen-year-old students. It is my hope that we demonstrate to our students the privilege we have as citizens of the United States of America to participate in our exceptional democracy.
Most recently, at our Color War extravaganza at PVHS, the entire school stood as usual as a student from each grade led the Star Spangled Banner. However, unlike other years, all of our students sang along as a community with differences in perspectives, but with a wholehearted love of the country we share. We acknowledge our flaws and are willing to grow and improve, and we recognize our uniqueness as a democracy that has welcomed so many from the beginning to join in a commitment to a freedom and diversity of thought. We have a model of what we can be in our students’ full-throated voices. (see video link below)
A few days ago our neighbor in Ossining came to see us after a business trip to Italy where she had attended a conference on Cultural Resilience. She shared some of her experiences with representatives of many countries that are striving for a semblance of the freedom we enjoy. They are willing to risk their lives for that cause, and suffer imprisonment or worse. My neighbor, who has a doctorate in American Studies, noted something else that stayed with me. She mentioned that she tunes in to C-Span daily, reminding herself that only America has a camera focused on government itself, as objectively as possible, always looking in on those we have elected to sustain our remarkable enterprise. When we examine the statistics for participation in the voting process in the United States, 58% in the last election, we realize that one of our roles as educators of youth is to encourage them to register and to vote. (see link below)
Thus, I write to the community and urge us to set an example for our students in helping to contribute our vote, our voice in the electoral process. Let’s share Alexander Hamilton’s cry in the wonderful production by Lin Manuel Miranda, “I’m not throwing away my shot!”
Dr. Frances Wills
Superintendent of Schools