Moms Group Backs Berkeley Schools Referendum

Yes 4 Schools may be the volunteer group managing the campaign supporting the Berkeley County School District's $198 million bond referendum, but they're not alone.

Three parents have created Moms4Kids, taking the referendum support to a grassroots level.

If approved by voters, the district would spend the money to build five new schools, including new elementary schools in the Goose Creek and Hanahan area, as well as significant improvements at Stratford High, Goose Creek High and Marrington Middle.

Here's a letter submitted by Moms4Kids founders, Heather Jones, Tanya Murphy and Ann Williams:

If you're a mom, please read this.

If you're not, well … you might not get it.

Because this is about the special relationship between moms and their children. We bring them to life. We nurture them. We typically teach them to speak their first words, to walk, to read, to dress warm, to face the world.

We coddle them, wipe their brows (and their noses), help them make friends, teach them about life.

There is nothing too good for our children.

They are the extension of our souls.

We know they'll be going to school, and there's a part of us that doesn't want to let them out of our sight. Ever.

But we appreciate that there are professionals who can teach them what they need to know to have full lives … to be curious, empathetic and wise.

We want those professionals to be the best they can be. And we want their facilities to support their efforts by providing environments that are safe and successful for good learning and good lives.

These things really matter to us. It's not just surface stuff. It's at our core.

And that is why we have created Moms4Kids, a name for Berkeley County moms who support the School Improvement Referendum on the Nov 6th ballot.

Right now, Berkeley County Schools are not providing the safe and successful learning environments that our children need and deserve.

It's not a 'people problem.' Good people are leading the School District, and good teachers are working in the schools.

The problem is facilities. Overcrowded classrooms. Student scrammed into trailers. Lack of safety. Not enough high tech learning. And good teaching compromised by inadequate facilities.

Those are not circumstances that are good enough for our children. We're sorry, but our kids deserve better.

That's why it's critical that we pass the School Improvement Referendum. 

The Referendum addresses every one of those problems. It creates five new schools and makes significant improvements in 29 existing schools. Every student in Berkeley County – every family in Berkeley County – will benefit.

Vote YES for the School Improvement Referendum, and we can be assured of smaller class sizes, so our children really have a good opportunity to learn.

Vote YES, to put an end to students being crammed into trailers.

Vote YES, to create school facilities that are safe, properly protecting our precious children.

Vote YES, so our kids will get the high tech learning they need to succeed in today's world.

Vote YES, to keep and recruit more great teachers for our schools.

No mom wants to compromise what’s best for her children. We generally know what's best, and it drives us crazy to deny our children what they so obviously need.

Our kids need the benefits associated with the School Improvement Referendum. And they can have them, if we care enough to support the Referendum and encourage others to do so.

Moms, you have friends. You have family. Tell them about the School Improvement Referendum and encourage them to support it.

Your children do deserve the best. If we all vote YES, they can have it.

Heather Jones, Tanya Murphy and Ann Williams