To the editor:

To parents and Ppatrons of Southeast Dubois, I had the privilege of working for the Southeast Dubois School Corporation as a teacher and principal for 41 years. Our corporation experienced tremendous success over the years thanks to hard working students, supportive and cooperative parents and grandparents, tremendous community support, and lastly, a dedicated and talented faculty and staff. In order to maintain that level of success, our school corporation needs the support of our communities and patrons now more than ever.

For the past 10 years or so, the corporation has seen funding levels decline as enrollment numbers decreased. As a result, we have lost too many good teachers who were incentivized into early retirement or seen transfers to other school corporations for better paying jobs. Fortunately, we have been able to replace these outstanding teachers with quality teachers, but they need our support so they continue the level of success we are accustomed to seeing in our school corporation.

Our current parents want the same success and opportunities for their children now as those in the past, so please vote YES on the upcoming referendum in November and help this corporation stay Strong!

— Lee Begle
Retired Ferdinand Elementary Principal