Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2011 02:15:42 -0500
From: Chatham Ghost
Subject: Insurrection
I spent some time with a few far more educated individuals than myself looking at the proposed reorganization of Chatham County Schools . We looked at numbers gathered across the US and the presentation from the school board where Mr. Logan recommends reorganization .
Our conclusion is that the people pushing this change knew about the budget short fall before any ground was broken
on Margaret Pollard and they knew there woul d be a large short fall .
They also knew that restructuring was the only way to add one more school since the developments in the northern end of the county have not panned out adding to our tax base . Instead many homes are either unsold or incomplete or even worse bare lots . The money wasn’t there to support another school and they were aware of it but pushed it
through in any event . This was before the convenient budget shortfall from cuts by the state in education funding that gave them the perfect avenue to orchestrate their plan for reorganization as a necessity overlooking bad judgment in building a school we couldn’t afford . As parents we were not privy to any of this information until it was almost to late to stop it . This whole process was underhanded and dishonest with self centered interest taking precedence over the good of the whole school system .
I have spoken with educators and parents alike and one common sentiment is if its not broke don’t fix it . The schools Mr. Logan proposes to break up are some of the highest performing schools in the county . Above the excellent teachers we have in these schools we have the parents support . If you ask any teacher from these schools
what really helps them keep the academic levels so high and they will respond parental support . If they need something all they need to do is let the parents know and the parents get to work and find a way to provide things for these schools the county doesn’t . Parents look at these schools as home as many of them attended the schools their
children are attending now . They look at each school as ( our school ) with our teachers . Its that sense of community support for a school that makes these schools so great for teachers and students alike .
The individuals proposing change in these schools have no vested interest in them or the community the schools reside in .
In the event Mr. Logan and certain BOE members shove this upsetting change down our throats we have accessed what will happen . The numbers Mr. Logan have provided are based on an optimal transition from K-8 schools and this will not happen . We will still be in a serious state of financial crisis . Parents support of the schools will decline rapidly so will the overall quality of education and unified feeling of community . In effect Mr. Logan is attacking our sense of community in this county by suggesting we can just bust up schools and ship kids all over like shipping boxes of produce to market to save a buck . We will loose some of our best educators in the process and replacing them with qualified teachers of the same caliber will be expensive . There will be expensive renovations required to bring all the schools up to par after the transition. These numbers have not totally been calculated but they will be in the
millions. This will result in higher property taxes and more deep budget cuts .
There will soon be an insurrection in this county to restore the power to the parents and to our teachers . Many of the same people that helped change the nature of our county commissioners in the last election are planning to organize to vote out the board members that support this change if it goes through . Once we have a school board
that’s unified for supporting the teachers and parents we will push for a complete overhaul of the current school system structure and replace all top officials in it .
There are several parents rumored to have consulted an attorney about a potential discrimination law suit aimed at Mr. Logan and the school system who were advised to contact to the ACLU . This is just the beginning of a nasty insurrection of parents tired of being ignored and pushed around . Several of our schools have been routinely cheated and shorted so money could be dumped in the fancy flagship schools Mr. Logan is so proud to showcase . We are encouraging parents and teachers to unite now and force a positive change . We have a priceless treasure in our
schools and we can no longer trust them to the current superintendent and certain members of the school board . We will not be another Wake County and we are willing to fight to protect what we treasure most , our sense of community in our schools .
Casper (Chathamghost )