I spoke March 4 at the Amherst Sanctuary City event in Grace Church. It was intimidating to expose my vulnerability to 300-plus people. But I’m glad I did, and I wish I’d said more.

I read a piece I’d published on the EmbraceRace website, “Muslim in Trump’s America,” where I spoke about how afraid I am being a South Asian, Muslim, brown-skinned woman in the current political climate. How I fear for my child, who has often been shunned by her lighter-skinned playmates.

What struck me later was that I’d spoken in front of hundreds of people who want to do good, who want to be fair, who want to help. Many have come up to me to express their shock and sympathy and to tell me more or less: “I had no idea this was your family’s experience!”

And yet, among them were Amherst residents advocating a “no” vote on the school project. It occurred to me that they might not understand how these issues are interrelated and how the school project affects families like mine.

The most vocal critics of the school plan say they want to retain “our neighborhood schools that we can walk and bike to with our children.” I live in South Amherst. My husband and I regularly walk or bike to school with our daughter. In my seven years in this neighborhood, I have seen remarkably few people walking or biking to school with their children. In fact, 90 percent of our elementary public school students take the bus.

Many critics of the school plan claim they are speaking truth to power and standing up for poor and brown kids against a powerful elite. I’d like these people to know that not only are “yes” voters diverse, but those of us with brown kids don’t need you to save us!

My family is not elite. We moved to Amherst from New York with our little girl because we couldn’t afford to raise a child in New York. We wanted to live in an area with fresh air, lots of outdoor space. But most important, we picked Amherst for its reputed public schools.

When our child reached preschool age, we could barely afford the home-based preschool she was attending three mornings a week. Both of us patched together part-time jobs so we could be home with our child.

She was finally eligible for the Crocker Farm preschool in 2014, and our lives changed! It cost us one-sixth of the previous preschool for five extended days at Crocker. Our community of support grew at Crocker, and we were able to take on more work and lead sustainable lives.

If the school project moves forward, it opens up 30 more affordable preschool slots for Amherst residents. That is not something to scoff at or to delay. Access to quality preschool changes the life outcomes for kids and families, as it did for mine, and that is better for Amherst, too.

As for “neighborhood schools,” let’s not forget that Amherst is small—we are not in New York City, folks. The driving time between almost any two points in Amherst is 15 minutes or less. We all know the same people in town. And the two new schools will be as small or smaller than our current schools. Please don’t buy the hype about a “mega-school.”

It’s true that moving to a single pre-K-1 and two co-located Grade 2-6 schools means there will be more kids per grade level with fewer grade levels. From my perspective, this is a very good thing for families such as mine: The opportunity for community building within and between diverse groups at the co-located schools is one of the most exciting aspects of this project for me and for many families of color!

Consider this: Our elementary schools may be about 40 percent nonwhite but that nonwhite population is very diverse and we are situated very differently. My friends of color with kids at Crocker Farm understand too well the downside to being a minority within a minority. We exchange stories of the daughter who’s the only girl with kinky black hair in her class; or the son who is the only black, but not biracial, kid in his class; or, like my daughter, alternately the only or one of two dark-skinned, South Asian kids in her grade.

We are not alone. Research shows that students need to see themselves in their environment — in the curriculum, in their teachers, and in their classmates — to avoid feeling invisible and marginal, feelings that undermine student success. The co-located schools would allow our kids to attend school with the neighbors and friends they see themselves in or hang out with at the pool, in LSSE camps, and in the playgrounds — making transitions easier than they are right now.

Vote “yes” for new schools on March 28, Amherst. If we want to make our town a sanctuary for immigrants, we should want to make it a sanctuary for all our kids, too!

Farah Ameen is a writer and editor who lives in Amherst with her husband and daughter.