Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 12:42:09 -0500
From: Chatham Ghost
Subject: Petitions and meetings planned
Petitions against reorganization and or redistricting are gong out today across the county . We desperatly need voluntiers to take petitions for parents to sign . Its very important we get all the parents organized and get those signatures to show the BOE we mean business and we wont take a back seat to a plan that will have a negative effect on us all . If this plan goes into place it wont just effect the K-12 schools , like Wake county the shuffle will begin moving kids across the county to unfamiliar schools creating a busing nightmare .
The other thing to consider is from what we are seeing is the K-8 schools have been cheated numerous times in the past and now with the finer flagship schools Mr Logan favors in the northern part of the county he plans to break them up for good . If you look at the new schools built in the northern parts of the county compared to Bonlee or Bennett you will see a drastic differance . Bonlee for example was origionally set to have an additional half dozen class rooms and a new gymnasium . The funds were cut eliminating the extra classrooms and forcing the old gym to be used with a new school . There are mobile classrooms scattered at Bonlee and other schools across the county and this plan will increase the numbers of those in use . I have never been a fan of mobile classrooms as they force children to make numerous trips outside in inclement weather and do not provide adequate safety in severe weather .
If Bonlee becomes a middle school to support a middle school athletic program it will need a new regulation size gym up to par with the ones at Perry Harrison . There are far more implications county wide to dropping the K-8 program especially with the price of diesel fuel expected to peak well over $4.50 a gallon . The longer bus routes from rerouting all the children will increase the fuel bill drastically . Thats money that needs to be spent else where in our schools . The parents in the northern tier of the county should be very grateful to have the quality of schools they have but need to be mindful that major changes in the K-8 schools will cause deeper cuts in your schools to get the plan in motion . I have looked at Bonlee , Bennett , Silk Hope and Moncure schools to see they are often treated like the proverbial red headed step children . They get the least amount of funding but the teachers still give those children the same quality of education other children get elsewhere in the county .
If you look at the schools and compare them not just based on the number of children there but the money spent on making them ascetically pleasing and the extras some schools get others dont you will see our schools are far out of balance . No matter what school a child attends in this county that child should get a high level of education . That child should have the same opportunities at any school they attend in this county . We need to stop this change and look for positive ways to cut the budget and balance out all schools so each one is a ( flagship ) school we can all be proud of for our children . Casper
I agree with you ghost that we are going to have a
mess like Wake County. Why do they not cut Mr. Logan and his directors salary? I mean they are overpaid for what they do. The teachers at school are buying more of the supplies or the parents are helping to pay for them. I am so looking forward to running against Deb Mcmanus in 2014… We need to start here with this issue and take our schools back!!!
Countryman
At this point with all the facts that have been brought to light, the BOE appears to be floating at best a badly formed plan and a false dichotomy. There are many other ways to address the budget shortfall without bringing all the students to the lowest common denominator. Why they are doing what they are doing is a separate issue that should be investigated by a non-partisan entity at some point–as well as why they hid their plans from us for so long. However, the main issue for me is the board is proposing arbitrarily destroying small nuclei of progress and community in our county. These areas are lights to encouraged and learned from, not to be ransacked out of jealousy or false economy– or whatever the rationalization. The K-8 communities are examples of diversity that is demonstrably beneficial, working, and not questionable like a lot of the diversity policies pushed down our throats. For example “no child left behind” it seems was a tool provided to local BOEs and other politicos that some used to falsely increase their stats while secretly “pushing out” the poor performers from the school rolls. Of course, if you get rid of the struggling students, your school will look better. ( And tragically, there’s a name for these lost students of the NCLB policy: “push outs.”) By engaging in this activity they artificially improve their school, county and state academic scores….and receive more public money. The kids are always the ones that pay for this political foolishness. Unfortunately this is just another apparent example of a strange decision, loss of community quality, or reduction of choice based on vague and blatantly questionable justifications. If there are clear justifications for it, why aren’t we hearing them? I’m sure most of us can manage to see the logic if it’s there.
I don’t want to speak for others but I believe that many of us know what is going on here with this push to redistrict and the complete lack of community input in developing the plans to combat the budget crunch. However, the complicating factor and problem is that some may think they will benefit from redistricting so they are loud and critical. Some believe that they might receive a dividend from this change an unfortunately this idea seems to immediately put them in the entitlement mind set. You should give me this because “you don’t know Jose or eat tacos with Jose” so you’re just trying to keep minorities down, keep us from what you enjoy and what we are entitled to. This is not the case at all and I’ve spoken to many who are sensibly and rationally against the redistricting idea. I agree that all are entitled to the opportunity to create for yourselves what some of us have and enjoy, but, you are not entitled to it. No one handed us our civil community with its strong parental involvement and good educational environment. We have built it and fostered it. As well, it could have easily gone the other way. And, since most of the parents responsible for the success of these schools both work and/or work two jobs, it’s not been easy. Nevertheless, we’ve built the culture in our K-8 schools and now passionately protect it and support it. I do apologize if at times we sound shrill and critical as well.
I’m sure you realize that breaking these schools apart will quite probably make that school centered culture go away. It’s hard enough to drive an hour to work, but now I have to drive across the county to get to my child’s school? It’s unfortunate that many of the shrill pro-redistricting voices in various communities and on the BOE all know that dismantling schools like Silk Hope and the other K-8 schools will do little to help the rest of the children, but they want it anyway –because why? I wonder if it showcases other schools inability to make the most of their own circumstances as some schools in the county have. At any rate, the BOE essentially is punishing the K-8 schools for our success. That’s not what we elected these people for. This is not what they are supposed to be doing. When did they go from being objective servants of the people in all Chatham county communities, to being political expediters, uncaring and privately motivated?
I’ll say this again, at this point I can see no rational, fair reason for pursuing this path of redistricting further–especially with the facts as stated above and in a mountain of other data and posts on the subject. And, most importantly, in the case of communities so willing to give and support (the BOE or whomever) whatever is needed to help maintain and improve the culture for the good of their children. Maybe some of the other schools need help creating value, but all of us loose when you selectively destroy value under the disguise of questionable “monetary expediency and fairness.” This redistricting proposal neither fair or expedient. And, for those of you who legitimately want redistricting to happen, I say this; OK, maybe this craziness (my term) might have some possibility for benefiting you –this time. What about the next round of craziness? Redistricting makes no sense in this context.