Your Children, Your Future
I have now been a parent for three wonderful years. The more I see out my son the more hope for the future I have. I am more committed as a person here in our local community and since have been more involved in what goes on around our great little town. I recently joined the Optimist Club to be involved in community activities like cleaning up litter, helping youth with programs and sponsorships and generally just pitching in to help wherever I can. I get to read to kindergarten kids and it is a lot of fun.
I was lucky enough to ask Mayor Max Bacon a question during one of our Friday morning meetings. I asked, "How much involvement is there by Smyrna government in our schools?" After a small but quizzical silence, he answered as best he could and was able to say how much some groups have raised for some schools and so on and so forth. But, the real problem I thought was that there really was no control on a local level. It starts with the county, then the state, and of course the federal level. There is no real "local" responsibility. It is at a distance where some far off person or group makes decisions en masse. This is the crux of the problem. Can one person really speak for tens of thousands or 100,000 or more? The answer is a resounding no.
Our schools are faced with a myriad of problems that can only be resolved at a local level. We need decision makers without fear of a politicized system. The further away decisions are made, the worse the repercussions and the easier to avoid responsibility for them. Control must be local. Think about a school board made up of people who you know, who you can talk to, who listen, or who you can call on the phone. Think of the empowerment and effect that would really have. When people line up to speak en masse now, what really happens? Very little.
We have a lot to live for when we feel we have a stake in our future. I like my town, my state, and my country. But I feel we are truly moving in the wrong direction in many areas and education is clearly one of them. I will continue to do my best to help, but I really think we need to make some changes where we control not just our own destiny, but our children's as well.
Bill
2:49 pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Erik -- It sounds like you are advocating a City of Smyrna school system like Marietta has. I am a product of Cobb County schools, and I'd argue that Cobb is "local." The City doesn't have the resources to operate it's own school system. Utilizing the county system makes sense to me. If we, as parents, want more involvement in our children's schools, we can start by volunteering there to learn more about what needs there are and/or participating in the schools' respective PTOs. Establishing a City system without parental involvement won't solve any problems. As I see it, there are better uses of City tax dollars than committing a new sum to operate a school system. If we believe the county schools within the city limits should be performing better, I think the best way to see improvements is to get our hands dirty and volunteer at those schools to see what we can do to supplement the instruction and improve things for our children. Those problems won't magically disappear because we create a city system. The county schools are more than salvageable. We just have to commit to them -- commit to sending our children there and commit to walk along side the teachers and administrators who need our support.
C.J.
6:33 pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Great comment Bill!
I'll add that since Smyrna has a smaller population than the County, I suspect that our property taxes would have to go up to cover duplicate overhead that would have to arise out of maintaining a separate city school district (e.g., new school board, new superintendent, new administration).
At the risk of being a contrarian, I also want to suggest that whether or not a family has a child enrolled in one of the County's schools is, for the most part, irrelevant. I understand that parents of school-aged children naturally have a greater emotional interest in our school system. However, my point is that we are ALL vested...school aged-children or not.
In the short-term, our property values are directly affected. But more generally, our economy and our future depends on the quality of our educational system. Most of the engineering, technology, and knowledge (e.g., shelter, transportation, water, food, computer, cell phone, software, entertainment) that we take advantage of on a daily basis was created and brought to us by somebody else's kids.
So, I would extend Bill's suggestion to commit to our county's schools and apply it to everybody...not just parents.
Erik Fernald
7:47 pm on Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Good comments Bill, I am leaning towards a system where we opt out of paying the county, state, and federal altogether. We keep the money, that often times gets frittered away with ridiculous expenditures, and spend it internally. I am not a proponent of higher taxes at all. I am suggesting a larger context, we opt out entirely, keep our money in our own communities. Who knows better how to spend our money, you, a local interested and involved citizen, or a bureaucrat 1500 miles away? I think the choice is clear, we know best how to spend our own money in our own communities. We have the ability to do this and opt out of the ridiculous system we are currently involved in now. I also agree that volunteering is a wonderful activity and many parents do it (myself included). But the system from top down from DC to here is farcical at best. Look at the what is staring us in the face over the last 50 years and the precipitous decline in education. Controlling our own destiny with our own money (not adding more taxes) is what I am hoping to get across. Best wishes, and I enjoyed your critique.
Michelle
12:13 am on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Great comments Bill. And thank you Erik for starting the dialogue about our schools. May I add that we also need to show up to the school board meetings and have a voice about what we expect/want for our local schools. I think the old adage of the squeaky wheel gets the oil can apply here. I also think we need to outreach to our neighbors, friends, local businesses, etc. and encourage people too walk through the doors of our area schools before they make drastic decisions to not send their children there based soley on test scores, demographics or worse....rumors. Our schools will never change if we do not get behind them and to do that we must send our children there and also get involved. We have a few great examples of families making a choice to send their children to their neighborhood school and then becoming involved and those schools have made major positive changes. I think the same thing can happen for all of our local schools. BTW, there is a non-profit organization in our area called, Smyrna Education Foundation - www.smyrnaeducationfoundation.org.
Bill
10:47 am on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Erik -- echoing Michelle, thanks for starting the dialogue. Your reply seems to be veering off into the realm of "charter school" now with the idea of opting out entirely and keeping our tax money to use as we see fit for the education of our children. For me, charter school is another way of saying we've turned our back on the public system but we don't want to appear so elitist that we send our kid to private school (and/or we can't really afford to send our children to private school). If charter school is not what you had in mind, then I think my previous comments about not creating a duplicative system just to say Smyrna has its own system still stand. For the most part, public schools are a local animal. And I would still say that the Smyrna schools -- albeit part of the Cobb County system -- are controlled locally. I know some parents were upset at the closing of Brown Elementary. If my son was going there, it would be upsetting to know that he was having to change schools and change principals, etc. The county went through at least 3 rounds of redistricting maps and public input. Some changes were made to the maps over that process. Keeping Brown open as an elementary school didn't fit with the plan to add a new centrally located Smyrna elementary school -- something Smyrna residents had been advocating for a while. I know Brown parents love the principal & other administrators there, but those persons could leave for other schools even if Brown stayed open.
Leo Smith
3:59 pm on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Who's up for an education roundtable discussion for next Sat. March 24 11:00 a.m. REV Coffee? Suggested Topic # 1 - What is Local School Control? or What are "Public Charters" Anyway? or "What is Reasonable v/s Quality Education." I suggest we set a time to meet and vote via a google poll on the first topic for deliberations. I'll create the poll from my website. Any takers?
Erik Fernald
7:56 pm on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Leo, I am getting my taxes done on Saturday around 1030am. I can do Sunday or later on Saturday.
Leo Smith
4:00 pm on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
This is very timely after my trip to D.C. and meetings with various education "officials."
Leo Smith
9:46 pm on Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Ok! How's Sunday the 25th at 2 p.m.?
Erik Fernald
7:53 pm on Thursday, March 15, 2012
I am free on the 25th at 2pm....anyone is open to come to Rev. FYI, our beloved Cobb which is "one of the best" in the state ( ranked 48th of 50 states by the way) per an email I received is currently $120 million in the hole. People who cannot balance a budget cannot be trusted. I cannot believe so many people have so much faith in a system that continually fails them and lets people down. Look at the past 50 years and there has been a continuous and precipitous decline in education. The few islands or bright spots are continuously in the private arena. It is unfortunate, but since control has gone further and further away from the local control it has continuously declined in ability to perform. The easiest glaring example is APS school system.....crime ridden from top to bottom, and I am not talking about the students.
Michelle
3:02 pm on Sunday, March 18, 2012
Leo, I will make every effort to be there but unfortunately, it may be a bit late as I have another commitment at that very same hour. Thank you for organizing this opportunity.
Leo Smith
5:04 pm on Monday, March 19, 2012
Should be a lively roundtable!