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Our community and school is everything to my family. I myself graduated as a Wolverine from G-E in 2006.

Our class was very tight-knit, my friends were neighbors and our families were friends. My teachers were not just teachers they were people I could trust and rely on.

Two things I loved most as a student attending a small town school:

1. The tight-knit relationships. My class graduated with roughly 38 kids. We all not only knew each other, we knew each others families and quite possibly their extended family. We stuck together, we supported one another, we had each other’s backs and we held our heads high with pride because of that! Those relationships stick — even now 17 years later, those relationships are still there and now we get to watch our kids build some amazing long lasting friendships in our small community!

2. My education was more personal than a lot of my classmates when I got to college. I had teachers that were willing to help me learn however they could — I was not just a number. My teachers had a vested interest in my learning because they, too, were a part of our community and knew my parents and my classmates parents.

My husband and I have two children — one that is school age at this time.

In 2019 we started looking at schools for our son, Breckyn, who has Cerebral Palsy and uses a power wheelchair. At the time Albert Lea was the only option we had within reasonable distance that seemed to have the resources for him.

Now four years later, we’ve learned more about Breckyn’s learning and had many conversations with the special services director. We are confident G-E would be able to support him in his learning.

However, the conditions of the current G-E school would not allow him to navigate in his power wheelchair properly or access certain areas of the school. Driving around buckets collecting water is not an environment that is easy to navigate.

If this referendum passes this is going to give my son the opportunity to attend a small town school where he can get to know all his classmates and be involved within our own community like I was as a child. Having teachers and staff that know my family personally and my friends’ kids as classmates, is what I yearn for every day for my children.

My family is in full support of the G-E referendum not only because of my experience as a G-E Wolverine but because of all of the children in our G-E community that deserve the opportunity to learn in a safe and secure environment.

Kara Heinemann
Glenville