ANDERSON - Thonja Nicholson carefully addressed one of 1,000 postcards supporting the Anderson Community Schools two ACS Moving Forward bond referendums to be sent out ahead of the May 8 primary in which the questions are on the ballot.
A graduate of ACS, she now wants the best for her grandchildren who attend school there.
“It’s going to help the kids in school, and it will help the next generation of students coming in,” said the chair of Taxpayers for Anderson Schools, an independent political action committee charged with helping the district make its case for the referendums.
Committed to the cause, she was one of 18 people gathered on a Friday night at the headquarters of the Anderson Federation of Teachers instead of out to dinner or taking in a movie with friends or family. The group also included ACS Board of Trustees President Pat Hill and board member Holly Renz.
The referendums are $41 million for capital improvement programs and $1.8 million for operations. ACS Moving Forward concentrates on safety, innovation and facilities.
It is one of two referendum programs on the ballot in Madison County. Alexandria Community Schools is asking for $19.3 million to consolidate the elementary school with the intermediate school and make repairs to the high school.
The postcards are one of several last-minute strategies, including door-to-door appeals several days a week for the past month, employed by the district and the political action committee to persuade taxpayers of the need for upgrades to the schools. Though not as scientific as a poll, about half of residents offering public comments at the district’s 1028 hearing in January favored the referendums and half did not.
Nicholson, who works at the Flagship Enterprise Center, said ACS officials have been sensitive to the needs of the business community. Business owners won’t come to a city and build a new plant if the community doesn’t make an investment in its schools.
“I think ultimately, it will help the community as a whole,” she said. “Better schools, better students means a better workforce.”
Nicholson stressed those who prefer to keep their political party voting preferences secret by not voting in a primary can do so and still cast a vote in the referendum just by asking at their polling place for a ballot, which will include theeferendum questions. Marisa Graham, dean at Erskine Elementary School, is in the trenches.
“My heart and soul is with Anderson Community Schools,” the Anderson native said. “I spent more time with Anderson Community Schools than with my own children.”
And like Nicholson, she was giving even more time to send postcards in the hopes they would convince taxpayers to vote for the referendums.
“I feel the referendum gives them a better opportunity than what we’re already providing them,” she said. “A better learning environment is probably what I’m most behind.”