Editor’s note: The author, Brooke McIntosh Crump, is a working mom in Mt. Gilead.

Y’all know Mt. Gilead loves a good meeting and this week, we’ve been meeting in the name of education. On March 3, I attended Professor Ted Shaw’s talk on Julius Chambers. For those of you unfamiliar, Chambers was a lawyer, civil rights leader and educator born and bred in Mt. Gilead. On March 5, I registered my son for kindergarten at Mt. Gilead Elementary. On March 11, I attended the forum on “The Future of Education in Montgomery County” where MCS Superintendent Dale Ellis and MCC President Chad Bledsoe discussed the new high school.

So it’s safe to say we’ve been doing a lotta talking about education. Last spring, we all went #redfornc and teachers marched. Now, as a mom of a rising kindergartener, I talk with other moms about where to send our kids to school. Some are truly worried about what to do and all have weighed their options. I was in school for ’bout fifty-leven years and in the blink of an eye my teenage stepkids will be graduating. I’ve been talking about school for a long time.

People begged for school choice, and by God we’ve got our choices now. But when did this all become so difficult? I’m starting to think moms can’t win because school choice is now an added layer of guilt. For a long time, kids were enrolled in school based on their location. Now, families are basing their location on schools. A quick google search will reveal a school’s report card. Living in a particular area no longer determines where a child will attend school. In my #momsquad alone, almost all have made a different decision on where to send their kids to school. Some have chosen Uwharrie Charter, some are enrolled at Wescare, others Troy Elementary, while some will remain at Mount Gilead Elementary. Other options to be considered include the O’Neal School and Park Ridge, and let us not forget the homeschool moms. And then there’s the decision on whether to redshirt, which is an option I’m still considering myself.

All have made a decision that works best for their families. Maybe I’m just not so good with options. But maybe I’m not so crazy as to think that as a mom who lives a block away from an elementary school, I shouldn’t have to consider bussing my kid an hour away. Some people have a real problem with the concept of charter schools and their concerns are valid – what exactly are we bussing our kids to? A higher percentage of privileged children? Are all of the school choices other than the one with a bus running in front of one’s house only for the privileged? What about sending kids across district lines to Troy? For awhile, my kid was one of the only kids signed up to play T-ball in Mt. Gilead (there’s still time to sign up, mamas) while Troy will have multiple teams, including kids from Mt. Gilead. Troy is not better than Mt. Gilead, y’all. Slightly larger with a McDonald’s does not a better town make. You know what they say: the grass ain’t always greener. But what else do they say? A man whose needs are being met at home doesn’t go looking elsewhere. Clearly there are some issues at home if so many are stepping out of our district.

Professor Shaw stated at the Chambers talk that one problem (among the obvious) with “separate but equal” schools was that separate facilities were not, in fact, equal, because there wasn’t enough money to go around. As I sat in Levin Auditorium at Mt. Gilead Elementary and looked up at the ceiling in need of repair, I couldn’t help but think that the “separate” standard is now just the standard. Montgomery County is investing a whole heck of a lot of money into a new high school. I believe that our high schoolers deserve an updated, state-of-the-art facility. But you must crawl before you can walk and if our kids can’t read on grade level, the nicest high school in the world won’t do them much good.

Mt. Gilead Elementary deserves love, too – and textbooks that aren’t outdated and falling apart. They deserve teacher’s assistants and art, P.E. and music every week, rather than once a month. Above all, they deserve a safe school where 4-year-olds aren’t found with guns. As for the middle schools, they deserve routine exterminators and a principal who doesn’t promote a culture of fear by conducting body searches and making teachers feel as if they have no choice but to walk out in the middle of the year.

I refuse to accept that this is just the way things are now. In the words of Professor Shaw, I am a “prisoner of hope” for public education. I hope for less talking and more doing in the name of education. I hope for the elementary school in our backyard to be the best option, not just an option. I hope for kids to have access to a GOOD and EQUAL education, no matter where they live. But mostly, I want for us mamas to not have to worry about sending our kids to school. We’ve got so many things to worry about, whether our child will have access to a quality education shouldn’t be one of them.