Board of Education President William Laidlaw at Rolland-Warner Middle School

The speech given by Lapeer Board of Education President William Laidlaw at the Rolland-Warner Middle School ribbon-cutting and open house on Thursday, August 27, 2009.

Good evening and welcome to Rolland-Warner Middle School. On behalf of the Board of Education, I’d like to extend a warm welcome and special thank you for your attendance.

Today is not only a special day for Lapeer Community Schools, but more importantly, it symbolizes what an entire community can accomplish when it works together for the common good of its people. Strong communities revolve around its public school system and investments in their future. We should feel privileged to reside in a community that values education and invests in tomorrow’s leaders.

To the taxpayers of this community, we extend our sincere thanks for your investment in our schools. Your trust and support in this Board of Education is deeply appreciated. I can assure each of you that your investment will impact every student in this district, providing the necessary technology and learning environments that assist our valued staff in providing excellent educational opportunities for those that pass through our doors.

Because of your support and generosity, we are building two new middle schools, making significant improvements in all buildings, providing much needed technology and media centers, replacing outdated furniture, and constructing new science labs in both of our high schools. We are stretching your hard-earned dollars as far as possible to ensure we provide the highest quality education for every student we have the privilege of serving.

To the members of Barton Mallow and French and Associates, we extend our thanks for your hard work and creativity in bringing our older buildings back to life, providing state of the art educational facilities at an affordable level to our taxpayers. Your efforts will be proudly displayed to the community in the tour that follows this ceremony.

To my fellow board members and our administration, I want to commend you for your perseverance in making today possible. After two devastating bond defeats in 2005 and 2006, we continued to seek a solution to our facility problems when most would have given up.

By creating a viable process that included staff, students, parents and community members, we were able to garner the support needed to pass the first bond issue in more than thirty years. Through that process, setting personal preferences aside, we listened to our community and proposed an affordable solution that was overwhelmingly supported.

Because of your dedicated efforts to our students, it is a privilege to serve as your board president, and I am excited to work along side of each you to realize the vision we have for our district and community.

Six months ago, our board had the privilege of honoring Doris Rolland and Abi Warner, wife of the late Ron Warner, after whom this facility is named. Both women spoke passionately about education and the vision they had for our new middle school program.

Their words left a lasting impression on all of us. Mrs. Rolland went so far as to challenge our board and superintendent to create a middle school program that will someday be nationally recognized. As we celebrate new facilities, technology, and educational resources furnished through the passage of this bond, we must never lose focus on curriculum and instruction within the classroom that drives student achievement levels to new heights.

Our board’s focus will always be on supporting our outstanding staff in developing a quality K through 12 program that will allow every student the opportunity to be the best they can be. We have the staff, the facilities, and the resources to make that dream a reality, and I am confident that we will succeed.

As we tour the new Rolland-Warner facility this evening, I encourage each of you to realize what can be done with older facilities to create learning environments that are conducive to student success. As an advocate of public education, I would be remiss in not reminding each of us that this bond realizes only the first half of the long range facility master plan our Board of Education adopted in 2004.

When the economy improves and our student population increases, I am hopeful that in the near future we can once again begin a collaborative process that places an affordable bond issue before us, providing an equitable learning environment for every student in our district. With creative thinking, good process, and community input, I believe this goal will someday be a reality.

Thank you for your support of Lapeer Community Schools and enjoy the tour of your community’s new school.