To the editor:
The other day, I found myself talking to someone about the upcoming vote on the Monument Mountain Regional High School project. This person informed me he did not have any “skin in the game,” and so he was inclined to vote “No.” He then informed me that since my kid graduated, I too did nont have any skin in this game, so why should I vote “Yes”?
My response to him was simply a question, “Does someone have to have a child in the school system in order to have skin in the game?”
The term “having skin in the game” is loosely defined as having a personal stake or investment in a particular situation or outcome. If that is true, wouldn’t we all have some skin in this game?
In its history, Monument Mountain has graduated well over 7,000 students, and a good percentage of them have since made the Berkshires their home.
Of those who currently live in the county and more specifically within the school district’s three towns, they represent a wide assortment of individuals who help make our community thrive.
They are doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical technicians, assistants, and first responders. They are plumbers, electricians, carpenters, laborers, and construction personnel. They are veterans, active military, and military trainees. They are landscapers, gardeners, farmers, conservationists, and ecologists. They are chemists, scientists, mathematicians, engineers, innovators, and technologists. They are the police and fire department personnel. They are restaurateurs, cooks, kitchen and waitstaff. They are cashiers, store staff, small business owners, CEOs, and entrepreneurs. They are writers, journalists, designers, artists, and creative producers. They are teachers, mentors, and students. They are lawyers, paraprofessionals, and public advocates. They are public servants, volunteer municipal committee members, and nonprofit professionals.
Some of these folks wear multiple hats across these different roles.
WE are all this and so much more. WE are a community.
Making an investment in the high school project means we are affording students the best contemporary resources and opportunities to develop skills, experience, and knowledge that can help support our community in the near term.
Building memories in a learning environment that safely fosters a student’s ability to grow helps to begin defining one’s identity and place within our larger world. These positive and formative experiences, more often than not, will attract those graduates of Monument Mountain to return to our area to live and raise their own families. That is the crux to our survival.
Please believe me, our young people are watching everything that we do.
Investing in our schools and investing in this school project is something we all have some skin in the game to see through to a successful outcome.
Please consider voting “Yes” to support the construction of a new Monument Mountain Regional High School on November 4, 2025. Please note that there is a second item on the ballot related to this vote. The second item is to support the funding of the project. Please vote “Yes” on the second ballot question if you support the construction of the high school.
The above commentary is but my own personal opinion. Thank you for your consideration.
Rich Bradway
Stockbridge
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