D31 Teacher: Ensure Your Child's Success, Support Tax Referendum

Dear Editor,

I consider myself lucky, and my parents smart. 

I grew up on the North Shore of Chicago and was a student in an outstanding school district, where I received a stellar education. Following college, graduate school, marriage, and moving around the country a bit, my husband and I moved back to the Northern suburbs of Chicago knowing that this area is the only place we wanted to raise our own family, giving our children the same opportunity to learn in a great school district like I did. 

I attribute a great deal of my personal and professional success to my earliest educational successes in elementary, middle, and high school. I couldn’t have known it then, but my parents had given me a tremendous gift by making the choice to buy a home in an area renowned for its schools, despite the higher cost of living.

I was awarded with what I felt was the highest level of professional success in my own field when I was offered a job in the very place where my smart parents chose to raise me: on the North Shore of Chicago! 

I am one of MANY proud, dedicated, passionate teachers in District 31. I provide students with a world-class education because I work within a district and community that values such a thing, and I do so because the people of this community moved here specifically for its excellent schools. 

On March 20th, the fate of our tiny, but educationally mighty district, lies within the very hands of the mothers and fathers, old and young, who moved their families to Glenview and Northbrook to give their children a gift: education.  And perhaps, in my classroom today, is the student who will grow up just like I did, return to this area, and buy your home when you are ready to move on.  Wouldn’t you like to ensure that all of that can happen? 

It is time to vote morally, and consciously, and vote yes for the community you chose, and the community you would choose again. Vote yes for the Continue to hold up high what you’ve always valued most.

I still say my parents are smart. And I am one very lucky teacher.

Sincerely,

Kelly Tess
6th Grade Teacher, Field Middle School

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