Cazual Conversation
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Cut anyone’s child but mine
January 13th, 2009, 10:19 am · 6 Comments · posted by mcazalas
The sentiment is nearly universal: we want our schools superintendent and the district board to cut the budget, eliminate waste and be more frugal.
As long as it doesn’t affect OUR children.
What’s a superintendent to do?
Bill Husfelt is on the right path. He is floating trial balloons to the board in January so there is plenty of time to shoot them down and float some new ones. The tact last year by the former superintendent was to float a hindenburg in the summer only to watch it explode, leaving the district without alternative transportation, so to speak.
Husfelt floats one recommendation involving the repurposing of Springfield Elementary, for example, and the community reacts with emotion, just as I would if it invovled my child.
Husfelt related a story when he visited The News Herald last week of a woman who wanted her grandchildren to attend the same school her children attended, which is the same school she attended.
The school absolutely could not be closed, she said, and Husfelt needed to turn elsewhere.
Husfelt said, sure, he would go find a school that no one’s parents ever attended, where no one had any history, and where there were no emotional ties to the community.
He was being facetious but it is true. Someone is going to be hurt emotionally to benefit the masses.
The question here is if we really want the cuts, we must be willing to bear some of the burden.
they always show you the cuts that will be most painful…they avoid cuts that are simple and effective such as reducing the fleet of vehicles,doing away with luxuries such as four wheelers and six wheelers,putting more kids in a class room,we always had thirty to thirty-five,shorten school year to save energy cost and transportation cost. Have ALL schools use the same textbooks.THESE are simple and there are many more. THINK your doing a reat job. got so sick of this RAPING we’re getting by the republicans and democrats I quit squalling. All the squallers do is blame the other party when they KNOW its ALL of them.Have a great day Mike
This Solomon will have to cut the baby. So let’s anesthetize the dopey public that wants their grandchildren to attend the same school they did and get on with it. I went through 10-12 different schools getting through grades 1-12. A couple of them may be standing - what do I care?
I understand budget cuts. I take issue with with the age of the children. A first grade ltiile girl does not need to be on the same bus as an 8th grade boy. They do not need to interact in hallways and bathrooms. They grow up fast enough let’s not move it along at a faster pace by having, pre-k, k and grades one thru 5 mingle with middle schoolers. Want to re-purpose? Combine middle schools into high schools , and high schools with tech schools. Leave elementary schools alone.
My mom, aunts and uncles attended school in the post 29 depression. Not many kids were afforded an education historically. Times have changed, populations have increased, and technology is on top of us. People need jobs to feed and send kids to school. Schools need taxes that are collected. Gulf Coast Community College offers online classes thanks to technology. Is it law that a child has to attend school full time in order to pass a class? Could k-12 have evening online classes? My mom and my aunts and uncles did not graduate high school because of the great depression. Child labor was a must in those days for “survival”. I hope our country, county does not have to experience this delima. Husfelt is in the exact same position as President Elect Obama. And I might add, because of the great depression, most of the children and grand children did not get a quality education.
The issue at hand is all pain is going to be felt by the poorest children in Bay County. Many students at Springfield Elementary come from homes with illiterate parents. If you live here you already know that. Martin Anderson was a Springfield student. The extra education those students need and receive won’t follow them to their new schools and you know it. Springfield parents are the ones complaining because their kids are the ones who are going to have to suffer from the decision to close their school. Cedar Grove can be closed. Parker can be closed. Callaway elementary can be closed. Why pick on Springfield? Combine Springfield, Millville and/ or Cedar Grove into Everitt and move the middle school students elsewhere. Those three schools serve students who need special academic attention. Their future is on the line and they are the least able to defend themselves from a system that provides the best there is to the upper crust and now intends to take everything Springfield students need to suceed. Everytime the budget needs to be cut they axe falls on those without the means to fight back. This is pure economic discrimination and a death sentence to democracy.
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