Dear Editor:
(In response to: ‘Debate over schools of choice: Boom or bust?? The Citizen, March 7, page 1):
There is a right and wrong way to accept schools of choice. The ultimate power of life, the mighty dollar, should not be the only thing we look at. Many surrounding districts have gone to only accepting elementary admission of students. We need to organize a committee of parents, teachers,and administrators to process all the applications that are submitted. We need to visit schools that the individuals come from to do interviews instead of a simple phone call.
Our community is a rural-based area and this is the reason many of us moved to this area. A city mentality is very different. I have personal experience with this, coming from Detroit. It takes a long time to adapt to this environment and a lot of emotional barriers and behavioral attitudes have to be changed to make it through. It takes time and high school is a tough place to start.
With over $2 million generated from schools of choice and only $58,000 actually used to teach the 327 schools of choice students, where is the financial gain of $1,942,000? We have an incredible middle school home economics kitchen empty because we do not have the funds to run the class, the band director cannot purchase sheet music for all the instruments because the budget will not support it, we still have issues with out-of-date textbooks that our children are forced to learn from, and multiple advanced placement courses have been deleted from our programs.
If schools of choice is such a good deal for us and our children, we should be reaping the benefits. Smaller class sizes, safety and security in our schools, safe drinking water for our children, truly be green schools with recycling bins for plastics, and the best possible education we can provide are the important issues at hand.
Stop only looking at the mighty dollar and stand up for our children. Our community deserves the right to remain rural and our parents deserve the right to be heard. Do not forget about the revenue our community children bring into the schools at $7,316 per pupil!
Maria Lauinger
Brandon resident and parent