Dear Anonymous,

Hey gang, Ivy here!

We've had a sort of back-and-forth going with an anonymous commenter, and the commenter left a comment that really deserved its own post, so here I am responding to it.

The commenter said:

If citizens were more concerned about the education their children were rec'ing than the "name" of the school, Tennessee wouldn't have such a low education level compared to the rest of the US. Just hearing people around town complain about every little thing makes me tired. Some people, NOT EVERYONE, need to get a life and fight for what really matters in life. If the shoe fits, were it. SOME of LaVergnes residents complain about any and every thing. Please, spend energy and efforts on things that improve peoples lives instead of making our community look so bad. We have enough bad publicity in the media without our own citizens doing it for us. If that offends anyone, maybe they should take a look at how they may look to other communities. Smyrna, Brentwood, Franklin,..hmmmmmmmm... Are we thought of as another Antioch or worse? Doesn't that bother any of you? I know this is not on the subject of how this all got started, but this is why I have a "chip" on my shoulder. Try improving the community and state and the future of our children, instead of complaining about a "name" of a school. What does it matter? What will it matter in 100 years? Nothing.

Anonymous, I think you may be surprised, but I totally agree on most of the points you raise. I think you might be unaware of where the writers of this blog are coming from, and where we're trying to go with all of this, so I thought I would do some explaining.

This is a group blog with three writers that all come from different, yet similar points of view. We are all homeowners, heavily involved with the school system and we all want what is best for the City of La Vergne. We are not trying to be troublemakers, rather, we want to effect change for the better within our city.

You said:

If citizens were more concerned about the education their children were rec'ing than the "name" of the school, Tennessee wouldn't have such a low education level compared to the rest of the US.

I agree that more parents should be involved. No, I really, REALLY agree. With *all* of our work with the school system, various activities, etc, one of the biggest things we have noticed is getting parental involvement can be like pulling teeth. Obviously, there are some fantastic parents that have really stepped up to the plate, but there are notorious others who dump all the work on everyone else. I think there are other reasons that the TN educational system is not the best, but that's for another post entirely, so I'll leave that alone.

The fact is, there is a lot that needs to change, but we are trying to change what we can. We know how to go about making this change, so we are working toward this change.

You said:

Just hearing people around town complain about every little thing makes me tired. Some people, NOT EVERYONE, need to get a life and fight for what really matters in life. If the shoe fits, were it.

I don't think the shoe really fits here. Read this blog in its entirety, and you will see we applaud the great changes that are taking place in this city, we are trying to be encouraging, yet bring out other things we think needs to change, as well.

You said:


Please, spend energy and efforts on things that improve peoples lives instead of making our community look so bad. We have enough bad publicity in the media without our own citizens doing it for us. If that offends anyone, maybe they should take a look at how they may look to other communities. Smyrna, Brentwood, Franklin,..hmmmmmmmm... Are we thought of as another Antioch or worse?

I don't know how changing the name of the school makes our community look bad. It seems to me that this would make our community look better, that we have active, involved citizens that really *care* about what is happening in our community rather than sitting back and just letting things happen.

Being thought of as another Antioch is something that bothers me terribly, as well, Anonymous. This is something we really, really would like to change. I have some ideas on how to start making changes and it sounds like you do as well. That's great. I think, underneath it all, we are really on the same side, Anonymous.

I'd like to issue an invitation to you, Anonymous. I'd love to meet up and talk about ideas we both have, and how we can work together instead of fighting each other. Please, email me at my personal email addres: ivy (at) badbadivy (dot) com so we can talk about this. I think we both really want the same thing, which is to make changes which will make our great city, even greater. (and I'd like a community pool. I mean, I would really, REALLY like one, haha)

Please email me so we can talk about this, because I think we have gotten off on the wrong foot and you have the impression that we are trying to fight you, when really, we want to work together for a common cause.

Sincerely,

Ivy.