Granite City is obviously the stronger of the districts...but does that mean it will raise everyone's standards.
It really won't, Granite City itself has a lot of problems.
I am not against this quite obviously, but I don't think the benefits in Madison and Venice would be all that great, and there is concern with what happens in Granite City.
I have more questions than I have stances with this one too.
I am not against it, because no one should be in limbo without a school, and it damn near happened to Venice recently.
But is Madison that insolvent right now?
Did the closing of the racetrack bring this on?
Overall I support it as you would expect I would.
More poeple -- more resources coming in, and more resources available to the students.
From Machine shop to Calculus....Granite's buildings are emptying out due to population moving out.
Put more kids in the buildings and give them more opportunities.
There is mutual benefit.
I won't mention why some might be against it...and believe me... I have my concerns too, just by fact that a good deal of youth would come up from homes with single parents who might likely come uninvolved.
However, I have never heard of things being BAD at Madison...really...so why would they get MUCH worse at Granite?
I admit not being around the schools or a lot of HS aged people in Madison to know what their situation is.
I just believe that the Anti-crowd - without playing the card -- I believe that the fear factor is trumpped up.
I think a merger would work just fine. In an a region that's declining in population - let's streamline and maximize the best use of resources.