12/9/98
The Auburn Bulletin12/9/98
Letter: YRS accomplishment: broken trust
I have been watching with interest the debate between ACS administration and the rest of the community at large and Year Round Schools (YRS). I have come to the belief that the ACS has conducted a pattern of deception with the Auburn community, that taken together, can no longer be viewed as either innocent mistakes or oversights by ACS administration, since all of the "mistakes" err in favor of YRS. These include:
1) Initial estimates of the cost of YRS that were gross underestimates, $45,000, compared with $500,000Û1.7 million now. The issue of the initial $45,000 estimate might be referred to as a "foot-in-the-door" technique or "bait and switch" often practiced by salesmen.
2) Rewriting of the "facts committee" report to put YRS in a more favorable light (Fact Sheet 1 versus Fact Sheet 2).
3) Misrepresentation of the literature on Channel 5 TV as claiming academic benefits of YRS.
4) Claim that YRS will help at-risk students in the Facts Committee report. None of the studies cited by ACS support such a claim.
5) Citations to specific studies in the O-A newspaper insert said to support benefits to at-risk students despite having been specifically told that the cited studies fail to support such claim and that one study ACS cited probably included fabricated data.
6) In that same news insert they claimed that two school systems in Alabama, Muscle Shoals and Hartselle City School Systems, are both ranked higher than Auburn and are on YRS. These two school systems were called. The claim by ACS is false, they are not on YRS.
7) Errors in describing the calendar on the survey that served to minimize the negative impact of YRS to the community and to families.
8) Errors in survey design that clearly provided a bias in favor of YRS against the traditional calendar.
9) Implication that only 40 out of 242 teachers endorsed the traditional calendar, when the traditional calendar was not even an option on many of the teachers' surveys.
10) Reading a description of YRS to Drake students before the Drake survey, that promised dance, rock climbing, music lessons and a host of other fun activities that will happen if YRS is approved.
There are more discretions that ACS has conducted, but space limits their inclusion here. What is most disheartening is that in their zealousness to get YRS stuffed down the throats of Auburn citizens, the ACS administration has destroyed the most important ingredient in education, the trust between parents and their children's schools. I hope that the ACS is happy with their efforts.
Al BradleyAuburn
Letter: Lies further erode confidence in ACS
In the Nov. 8 issue of the Opelika-Auburn News, Auburn City Schools published an insert, "Perspectives" -- "Questions about alternative calendar answered inside." On the next to the last page of questions and answers, in the middle column, was the following paragraph:
"Has any school system that performs higher than ACS implemented an alternative calendar? Yes, Muscle Shoals City Schools; they are ranked eighth in the state on SAT. Hartselle City Schools will implement (YRS) in August 1999, they are ranked 10th in the state on SAT. ACS is ranked 11th in the state."
On Nov. 20, Hartselle City Schools, (256) 773-5419, was contacted. Maxine Sanford, secretary in the Superintendent's Office, said that Hartselle City Schools is "looking at it (year round schools/alternative calendar)" but that it "is not planned" at the present time. Their Board of Education meeting on Dec. 14 is scheduled to have parents' input on the topic. No decision is planned for at least five months. It is hard to see how this response could be considered "will implement an alternative calendar" by ACS.
In addition, on Nov. 20, Muscle Shoals City Schools, (256) 389-2600, was called. Mary Boyd, secretary in the Superintendent's Office, said that Muscle Shoals City Schools are "on a block system .... but not on year-round school (or alternative calendar)." This year Muscle Shoals City School's calendar is only slightly different than Auburn City School's. Three vacation days (Oct. 19-21) are added at the end of the first quarter and two vaca tion days (Jan. 19, 20) are added at the end of the second quarter. The result is a one-week shorter summer (11 weeks in Muscle Shoals vs. 12 weeks in Auburn). This is a far cry from the alternative calendars that Auburn City Schools is proposing, some of which have three-week intersessions.
We are greatly distressed that ACS would print yet another example of misleading and false information regarding YRS. Is it any wonder that our trust in Auburn City Schools administration continues to decline?
Steve & Frances StuckwischAuburn