The students of the Ocean Beach School District are a vital piece of the future of the communities on our peninsula.

Visit many of our small businesses, health care clinics, the hospital, our county government, local law enforcement agencies, natural resource-based businesses, etc. and in each and every one of them you will find adults who got the foundation of their education in our local schools. We are beyond blessed as a community that so many of them have chosen to either stay or return and share their talents with us.

As community members it is our duty to carry out the responsibility of providing our local students with the absolute best foundation in education that our school system can provide. This takes dedicated students, staff, administrators, board members, and community members.

Some members of our community may feel they don’t have a vested interest in our local schools because they don’t have children or relatives currently in the school district, but that isn’t how it works. It is the collective responsibility of the community, not just those with students in local schools, to provide for the education of our children. It is every community member’s responsibility to do what they can to make our schools the best they can be.

This starts with voting in a school board that oversees the policy, budget, and superintendent of the school district. Leadership starts at the top. For the first time in decades, we will have a contested school board race for the seat in District #1 of the Ocean Beach School District. One of the candidates, Mark Mansell, is having a meet and greet next Wednesday Sept. 13, at the Train Depot in Long Beach from 3 to 6 p.m. I strongly encourage you to attend and meet the candidate.

Do your due diligence in this important upcoming election and take this opportunity to vote in a board member who you feel will contribute to the leadership of our school system in a way that will benefit our local school children, who are a vital piece of the future of our communities!

BRIAN and MARILYN SHELDON

Nahcotta