To the Editor:

As the parent of a current Mount Greylock Regional School student, I have followed the news, social media, and unwavering advocacy for, and unyielding protests against, the health and safety of the school my son loves. I have found myself frustrated and hopeful, excited and disappointed, energized and exhausted by the emotional roller coaster that has ensued for over a year.

As an adult, parent, and taxpayer, I know how much is riding on this vote.

But I did something today that I haven't done in a very long time. Today, as I was driving from Williamstown to Pittsfield, I was behind a school bus. Today, I decided to ride along with my son's friends on their journey home. Today I rode the bus.

I've seen the signs in our communities for weeks, but today on my "bus ride" home, I tried seeing them differently. I imagined viewing them through the eyes of the students on the bus. And I saw red "vote yes it costs less" and I saw white "vote NO." I saw cost. I saw a road home that was congested by road blocks to education. I saw confusing messages. I didn't like what I saw from my bus window.

I do not know what it feels like to find my path home paved by controversy over whether or not I deserve a safe and healthy building to spend 7 hours a day in. I do not know what it feels like to have members in my home town suggest that I belong in a different school than my own. But, I tried to imagine how that might feel if I were on that bus instead of riding behind it.

And though I do not know what that feels like, I do know what it feels like to be told no and offered limited support and resources for my education. I know what it means to be told no, we don't think you need a high school diploma. I know what it means to be told no, we will not pay for college and to find a way to begin at a community college with no financial support. I know the punch in the adolescent gut that is the word no. I do not know a road to home paved with no by way of political signs that will influence my life when I have no vote of my own that I may cast. But I know road blocks to education and I know that in my adolescent mind, I thought they sucked.

So I write now for my son's friends on that bus today, whose road to home is currently paved with "NOs" and signs about "cost" that may begin to feel like "worth." To every one of you on that bus, I want you to say thank you. Thank you for welcoming my son to a new school. Thank you for patting him on the back after he was sure he tanked his first musical audition. Thank you for taking the time to help him find his voice when he realized he would have to sing on stage.

Thank you for lighting up the Shakespeare stage and the '62 Center stage with him for stunning performances. Thank you for your talent, your energy, and your brilliance in the classroom, in JCL, the newspaper, and on student government. Thank you for tearing up a lacrosse field with him. Thank you for making MGRHS the school my son and our family loves.

No matter what those signs say, please know that many of your MGRHS community members are working tirelessly to make sure that you have the school you deserve. Please know that I join many who plan to keep riding with you, standing up for you, and fighting for an open road paved with "YES."

And I write to the adults, and I invite you to also "ride the bus" and consider the messages being sent to our amazing youth on their way to and from their school. Let's not just consider the finances of what is riding on this vote, and lose sight of who is riding in the bus.

Amie Hane
Williamstown

Hane is a developmental psychologist, associate professor of psychology at Williams College, mother of three, and a first-generation college student.

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