Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 17:42:58 -0400 (GMT-04:00)
From: Linda Cooper
Subject: School House Blues
I am posting this for a friend. Please respond to her directly.
School House Blues
It is the start of another school year. Summer break has come to an end and so has our freedom of choice when it comes to where we want our children to go to school.
Just when you think your children are well grounded, up comes a root. My husband and I are a concerned parents and life-long citizens of Chatham County. My son is an upcoming freshman who has always attended Pittsboro schools. He attended Pittsboro Elementary and Horton Middle School and had always planned on attending Northwood High School.
My son attended football training and practice all summer long at Northwood High. He proudly achieved a starting position on the football team and was looking forward to the upcoming games. He took Driver’s Ed this summer at Northwood High. We bought school supplies, wondered which teachers he would have, which friends would be in his classes and prepared for the first day of class. Then came The Letter of Devastation.
The Letter said he had been denied. He would not be attending classes at Northwood High School. Can you imagine how crushing this is to an upcoming freshman, a young man who has worked very hard to put “his all” into achieving all summer long. One week before school is in session! His records, schedule, friends, peers, coaches, etc., all he has known – gone in a matter of a few words in a letter.
Why? Why has he been reassigned to Jordan Matthews where he knows no one?? One reason given is Northwood High is full and no more students will be allowed to attend. Another reason was that we live in Siler City. The fact that we have lived there for years and my freshman and his younger brother have always attended Pittsboro schools apparently means nothing.
My husband and myself both work in Pittsboro where we have quick access to our children in case of emergency. Now what happens if there is an emergency? Yes, one of us can drive to Siler City to Jordan Matthews, but that 30 minute drive can seem like a lifetime in an emergency. Our families, maternal and paternal, live in Pittsboro. Who is going to be a local contact for us now?
The Letter also complicated our family in another way. Our younger son will be attending Horton Middle School in Pittsboro. One child in Pittsboro and one child in Siler City. Consider the transportation issues! After school activities will become a transportation nightmare!
Who will supervise our freshman in the afternoons when school is over? We work in Pittsboro and in the past he has easily rode a bus or walked to our workplace or to a grandparent’s home after school. All of you know what happens with teens left unsupervised, they are SO MUCH MORE likely to get into trouble!!
All parents and citizens of Chatham County need to stand up and do what is right for this community and our children. We need to slow the growth of housing developments until the school growth is able to keep up with the population. It is time for the people of this county to stand up and do something about school redistricting, over crowded classrooms and uprooting children. What happened to no child left behind.
My 16 year old son is so traumatized by this that he is seriously considering dropping out of school. Legally this can happen and we will strongly encourage him to remain in school, but working in Pittsboro how will we know what he is doing in Siler City??
If you can help in any way, I would love to hear from you!!
Sincerely,
Yvonne Sexton Goldston
1102 N. Hampton Street
Siler City, NC 27344
(919) 542-1302