Dear Editor,

OrthoWorx was founded in 2009 to, among other things, work with community stakeholders to make our region’s education offerings not just competitive with other medical device regions in the country, but distinctive and well equipped to meet the workforce needs of our area. Since then, significant improvements across many measures have taken place thanks to the vision of administrators, the dedication of teachers and the leadership of the school board.

The creation of the Warsaw Community Schools Strategic Plan, the conversion of Washington Elementary to a stand-alone STEM Academy and the design and deployment of the mobile Warsaw Inquiry Learning Lap are all notable achievements that we have been proud to support.

Still, there is much to be done. Other communities, states and nations aren’t standing still and students here deserve equal or better opportunities. A critical component of our success is our school facilities. Safety is the top priority, of course, but schools today need to be designed and constructed such as they enable contemporary teaching methods such as inquiry-based learning and that they facilitate learning for STEM subjects. Importantly, the skills and knowledge gained through these methods apply broadly across our regional economy, from agriculture to medical services to health professionals.

Our community has an important decision to make regarding the ability of our schools to continue their progress in equipping students to compete in an increasingly global, technologically complex world. Turnouts for primaries and off-cycle election here and across the nation tend to be low so important decisions are often made by a small slice of the electorate.

This decision, about where and how students in our community will be educated, is an important one and deserves the efforts of all of us to make our voice heard, either by voting early or going to polls on May 5.

Sheryl Conley
President and CEO, OrthoWorx