Prom shows what coming together can do

Prom.

It’s that time of year and it means following well-dressed students around southeast Iowa and watching the boys get frustrated with hours and hours of photos, while the girls get frustrated because the boys don’t want to take hours and hours of photos.

But to me – this one year – it was sadder than normal.

My youngest nephew, Hayden, who just signed to play baseball at William Penn, dressed up in a black and canary yellow tux, and his date Abbey Bence in her coordinated, beautiful, laced ball gown, looked way too much like Beauty and the Beast.

But the Statesmen’s baseball cap adorning a tuxedo vest and matching yellow tie on top of a white button down, took the beast out of the night.

As I ventured into the West Burlington High School promenade and heard the announcements of the prom couples and triples, a sadness rolled over me. It’s a routine experience as I take in family events as a much-appreciated reprieve from things like shared athletic program battles.

To be honest, it’s a nice break from the issue of the week that pitted me against some people that I consider very good friends.

The promenade is the icebreaker to this week’s editorial even though you don’t want to run to the well too often.

But I have to say this week was one of the roughest weeks I’ve had in this business. To write about something that was difficult for my friends was trying to say the least. I’ve supported and traveled to support Fort Madison and HTC athletic programs whether they were shared and not.

The coaches, parents, and players have been tugged and twisted as this acrimony played out in the media and in the Fort Madison School Board.

People, including the Fort Madison School Board and even some of the coaches, will now do a double take when I walk the sidelines - unappreciative of the process story that unfolded in front of us all.

But what they can’t forget is that it’s a process.

I went to a soccer game on Thursday afternoon and there were a lot of Fort Madison school employees and advocates, and it was just a little chilly. Not just the cool northern winds, but the look-for-over-shoulder chilliness that comes with someone who just doesn’t quite agree with the premise.

I’ll say this has not been fun for me, despite what many others may think.

I’ve been on both sides of things for more than week. My initial battle was the process. No vote = no action.

As I worked my way through the process, including a one-on-one with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, I realized that it wasn’t just a process story.

The Fort Madison “Community” School District has a responsibility to the community. It’s not equitable, and as I’ve said multiple times, it probably never will be. But they are the community school, therefore their responsibilities spill out of the four walls – out into the community that’s part of their name.

For the first time in a long time, providing those services is without a doubt much more equitable than it’s ever been before when considering the $355,200 that is expected to run to the district from state coffers as part of the new Students First Act.

I’ve said multiple times, and sometimes it flies over people's heads, but the gold is in the mud. You have to work to find it. Since the gold rush of 1849 where my great-great-great grandfather Harold Brooks headed west to try his hand at panning in the streams of the west, there can be found big chunks of gold sorting through the mud.

As of Friday night, all three of the school districts in north Lee County have come back to the table to discuss a more equitable shared program. That’s the gold, folks.

The Superintendent can be upset with us and the board can be upset with us. That won’t matter in two weeks, two months, or two years if we can put these agreements back in place. So Luke Hellige can pitch on a team that he wants to, not one he has to. Jacob Shottenkirk can play on one of the very best soccer teams in the state, just because it’s there. Teagan Snaadt and Hadley Wolfe can pressure the goal together, because we thought as a community and not as entities.

It's not lost on us that some will not be happy with what compromise comes about because they had to give in… again. One of their most stringent and legitimate arguments is that the public district will always have to give more. But the weakest part of that is they believe they’ve never had to. Well, we believe that’s not the case because if they don’t – then who does. They are the Fort Madison COMMUNITY school district and they have a heavier load to carry. Whether they like it or not.

And accepting that role makes them somewhat of the hero and not the villain. Jeff Lamb, Dr. Erin Slater, Josh Wykert, and the rest are nowhere near the enemy. It’s the opposite, they are trying to do what’s best for the kids of FMCSD, they are just saddled with propping up other programs because it works best for all the families in the district.

At the end of this all, and whatever these newest talks reveal for the next year’s shared programs (if we’re lucky enough to get another round), we have found new heroes on all sides. If Central Lee, HTC, and FMCSD come up with an agreement that works even for another year, that’s at least one more year.

When that happens, we can all celebrate what community truly is – a collaboration that culminates with Derek Doherty’s Bloodhounds on Friday nights. A program on a meteoric rise, but now without HTC players. But I’d bet a $1,000 contribution to the Bloodhound Boosters that HTC students are in the stands for every Friday home game.

It’s also just like Fort Madison kids sitting at the SportsCenter table for HTC basketball and volleyball games. We don’t think twice when we see Xander Wellman of Fort Madison and Nik Fullenkamp of HTC sitting next to each other cheering on the Crusaders.

This isn’t a figment of our imagination, these kids want to be together, and we need to foster that environment. Not everything in the world is equitable, and it never will be. But seeing past the money and looking at the intrinsic value and hope in the eyes of all our children, is about as fair and beautiful a thing as you will find.

We can and should do this, and it looks like our better angels are once again overpowering the perched demons that move us in unfavorable directions.

One of the other great things I saw this weekend was a group of dedicated volunteers working the sides of streets, parks, and all around the county on Earth Day to keep our little corner of the world clean….together. But that’s Beside the Point.

Chuck Vandenberg is editor and co-owner of the Pen City Current and can be reached at Charles.v@pencitycurrent.com.