Dear Editor:

“Miles and miles of back roads and highways connecting little towns with funny names who’d what to live down there the middle of nowhere? They’ve never drove through Indiana meet the man who plowed that earth planted that seed, busted his ass for you and me or caught a harvest moon in Kansas they’d understand why God made those fly over states,” “Fly Over States” By Jason Aldean.

I couldn’t think of a more appropriate song to describe our community of Tippecanoe Valley. Back roads and corn fields. My name is Christopher White and I graduated from Valley High School in 2005. I was an FFA member. Mrs. Paxton was my teacher and we still chat. Mrs. Paxton is a very loved teacher by many in our community.

In January 2016 Mrs. Paxton was no longer part of the school and the FFA program. Our community was devastated. For my love of small town life and supporting a way of life. Our problems were just beginning from there.

 I made a page called Tippecanoe Valley FFA on Facebook around June of 2010. The page was made for our community, parents, and students to keep up with FFA community event, pictures, and memories. The community and parents have always found it useful. Mrs. Paxton was part of the administration of the page to help keep it updated.

After Mrs. Paxton left the school she passed it down to a fellow FFA member. A student and her parents were aware of this. Recently I was contacted by Mr. Scott Backus asking to give the page to them. In the wake of this I found out that the student was called to the office and made to sign on to their Facebook to allow Mr. Keith Lang on the FFA page. He did so without consulting the students parents. While on the page they removed and blocked Mrs. Paxton from even being a member of the page. He also removed pictures, videos, and memories that all FFA members and family love, appreciate, value. Parents and community members were upset.

We want our voices heard for the many out there that have come to love small town, field plowing type of life. It’s a way of life and teaches many life lessons. The page would be passed down year by year student to student, after it was permitted by the parents. In what right did these gentlemen have to do this to this student and remove memories shared thru generations of the community. We want our voices heard and ours and our communities questions answered by the Tippecanoe Valley School Board.

Christopher White
Life time member of the FAA