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School And Community Relations Battle |
By:
Jean Houston |
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I am amazed how much you learn about a community when you move into it. My husband and I had vacationed close to the town that we now live in for years. When we were on vacation we did some shopping for supplies and food in the small town. We got to know some of the merchants and restaurant owners. Everyone was always welcoming and polite to us. This was one of the reasons we decided we wanted to relocate to the area.
Once we moved in we joined a church community as well as a civic organization. Our children are out of school so we knew we would not meet people through the school as we had in the former community we lived in. We soon learned that there were tensions between the school and community relations. There had been a large school referendum that was defeated in the last election. As a result there were teaching positions that were getting cut and the classroom sizes were growing. Many of the community members felt that the high school in the town should join with the high school in the neighboring small town. The two schools already combine students for some sports teams. The school administrators do not want to do this. As a result the school and community relations are poor.
The school administration in our town is trying hard to improve these relationships. They are introducing college level courses to the seniors and are trying to increase the number of students that participate in extra curricular activities. In some ways this is back firing on the school because community members question where the money is coming from since the referendum was defeated. The school is also trying to educate the students on the importance of the referendum so that they can help sway the voters for the next election. Parents feel this is propaganda and are becoming angrier with the school. It seems that the school and community relations deteriorate more with each tactic the administration tries. At this point we are really glad that our children are done with school. I can understand the schools frustrations at the rising cost of everything and wanting to stay competitive with the educational needs of the children, and as a tax payer I do not want our taxes to raise to pay for a school referendum that will not benefit my children. This is a battle that is going to continue for several years to come.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article51565.html |
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