Time to elect some respectful voices at Town Hall.
As a community, we can be proud that there has been a significant drop in the number of bullying incidents in our local schools thanks to the Anti-Bullying discussions, training and seminars that have been taught in recent years. But as parents we know that the examples adults set influence the behavior of our children as well.
Recognizing that Ayer has gone through some major changes in the last few years, differences of opinion are the likely outcome, which have brought at times strong emotions and feelings about the how the future of our community will play out. But too often those feelings have boiled over. So in some cases behavior that we are trying to discourage in our students is too often the behavior of a few of our elected officials, who by chance are all running for re-election this year.
Refusal to work with other boards and committees in a cooperative manner, rudeness directed at the representatives of state agencies (with whom we need to work closely on important regional issues), pounding on tables, raised voices, storming out of meetings, undermining majority votes of the boards they sit on if they didn’t prevail and attacking the integrity of some of our town employees and department heads happens far too often to be tolerated any longer.
Regardless of which side of an issue you may be on with the upcoming elections in Ayer, we can make a statement about the tone of government we could have by electing some fresh but familiar voices. The challengers are all experienced citizens who have chosen to run for elected office. In their previous work on behalf of the town, they have demonstrated a commitment to the community as a whole by respecting and working with others, even if they are not of the same opinion.
At the ballot box we have this opportunity to say to our children, ‘what is unacceptable in our schools is unacceptable at Town Hall’ by not re-electing the incumbents.
PATRICK HUGHES
Ayer
