10/9/98
Opelika * Auburn News* THE NEWSPAPER OF EAST ALABAMA*10/9/98
Letter: Now it's a lack of trust issue
Tuesday I attended the Auburn City Council meeting long enough to get the impression that the concerns of parents who would like the school year to remain as it is were being brushed off.
Wednesday I listened to a group of parents who believe they haven't been heard and who are afraid the new program is being rammed through using dubious, if not dishonest techniques.
Last year I heard parents complain about having their children bussed around Auburn (a very bad idea, at least if the purpose of schooling is to educate children).
No government, board of directors or ruling body can succeed without the trust and confidence of those it ru1es, and the Auburn education establishment is losing this confidence of the parents whose children are in its care. And deservedly so. We have had nearly half a century of social engineers driving a wedge between children and parents, and this sounds like more of the same.
No matter who I ask, The success of Auburn schools is attributed to parental involvement and individual teacher performance. So why is the establishment going out ofits way to estrange half of those who account for its success? Why, rather than changing things just to be changing things, try another untested system? ls it possible we have an educational bureaucracy that is out of control, hampering the efforts of teachers and parents?
If 1 had children in school in Auburn and they were doing poorly I would be at my wits end overwhelmed by a sense that in Auburn, bureaucratic experiments matter more than family. If I were Mayor Ham I would be looking long and hard at the School Board.
George CrispinAuburn
Letter: Resident asks for change
An open letter to Auburn Superintendent Dr. Mick Martin:
Thanks for talking with me about the poor timing of the announced meeting on year round school on 12 Oct. 1998. This date is much too soon.
Please move the city-wide year round school meeting to a later day for these reasons:
10 days is too short a lead time for folks to hear about it and get ready, especially since ACS hasn't said any thing. Sure, you told me the date was in the Oct. 2 newspaper, (and it was--buried on page 2 of an article), but it's hard to believe this is how ACS conducts its publicity. ACS should publicize its meetings in the paper, on the radio and on school calendars through the PTAs.
None of this has happened even though this critical meeting is nine days away. This process is accused of being secretive. Without publicity, I see why.
You've been accused of rushing the process. If ACS is in a hurry to get information out, advertise it far in advance. So far, ACS hasn't.
Auburn citizens are not prepared to attend this meeting, now nine days away, mostly because ACS has not publicized the information it's gathered on year-round schooling. Dr. Freeman said yesterday, that "the citizens are crying for information" (she read a sample letter on same), yet ACS hasn't let them know where the information is.
I hope you change the format of this meeting so it is a forum--a public meeting place for open discussion. The current format forbids discussion--a big mistake, since it suggests that the questions will be all plants and the hard questions won't be allowed since they'll be filtered by your moderator. I'm sure you're not afraid to let people speak.
Please set the additional city-wide town meetings you promised on Sept. 1 so there can be discussion. Don't rush this. Like we said, there's great strength in hearing other folks' concerns --splitting up the city into PTA district meetings, with many different speakers, will confuse the issue and result in misinformation--the last thing ACS needs.
David J. EltonAuburn