12/10/98
Opelika * Auburn News* THE NEWSPAPER OF EAST ALABAMA*12/10/98
Letter: YRS gives reader nightmares
It is 3:30 a.m. I just had a terrible nightmare. I was standing outside a crowded meeting room. Adults were milling around whispering among themselves. Children were laughing and playing. I felt optimistic and at ease. The whispers became a litany. They are going to O K year-round school. "Surely not," I exclaimed. "It makes no sense. It doesn't work. Our leaders would never betray our trust."
Suddenly, a long red limousine drove up slowly. Not Cruella Deville, but Dr. Susan Freeman was driving. Inside, pressed against the windows, crying to escape, not 101 Dalmations but our children. I threw myself across the hood of the car and began to scream. "DON'T EXPERIMENT WITH MY CHILD!"
I woke up, heart pounding. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was only a dream, OR WAS IT? We'll find out Dec. 15.
Joanne ThomsonAuburn
Letter: YRS debate steals spirit
Observing the debate about Year-Round School in Auburn has made me appreciate one thing: that my children are being raised in a community where so many people care so much about public education. We parents and citizens support our schools not only with our tax dollars but with countless volunteer hours and involvement and support of many kinds. Until this fall, there was a strong feeling of partnership between the community and the Auburn City School system. I am discouraged to see this spirit evaporating as the YRS debate rages.
I am not opposed to YRS because it would shorten the summer vacation. In fact, shortening the summer to allow a two-week spring vacation might make the January-to-June stretch less of a marathon and be a real benefit. In my opinion, "because we've always done it this way" is no reason to oppose change. As far as 'at-risk' children go, I approve of trying to keep them from falling behind. I'm not even against YRS because it would cost mil lions of dollars Û educating our children well is certainly worthwhile.
What I am dismayed by is the timing of the pro YRS campaign being waged by the Auburn City Schools. The alternative schedule being proposed is so unusual and unproven that only a handful of systems have tried it, and no one knows whether it will work or not. A few years from now the facts may be clearer, but trying it next year would be making guinea pigs of our children. Auburn is already reeling from major changes: Redistricting, new schools, budget uncertainties and the University's restructuring and semester transition. Asking this community to adjust to YRS in the midst of all this seems insensitive and even domineering. Now is not the time to be considering such an upheaval!
I am also alarmed by the aura of propagandizing that surrounds the YRS discussion. Literature prepared and paid for by ACS has been biased and misleading. The survey is badly flawed, from its wording to the way it was presented ("sold" is a more accurate description of what went on in my own child's classroom) to the counting itself. In response to a question about how my answers would be counted, the accounting firm replied, "Ask Suzanne Freeman" (leading proponent of YRS on the ACS staff). Even if the survey itself had been conducted fairly, I believe many of the people in favor of YRS support it for reasons that are uninformed. Whatever the survey results seem to tell, I won't believe they speak accurately for this community.
A shopkeeper I talked to recently told me he was in favor of YRS for two rea sons, neither of them valid. He believed that YRS would "keep kids off the streets" and that they would graduate from high school sooner. Neither of these things would happen with the calendars being pro posed by ACS, but it's easy to see how someone could mistakenly think Year Round School means just that. If YRS goes through, I expect many of its sup porters will grow to hate it when they find out that it doesn't really do what they think it will.
I urge the Auburn City School system to spend additional funding on at risk children by hiring more Title I teachers if that's really our greatest concern. But please don't force us to embark on this wild goose chase after an unproven educational reform and above all, don't do it now!
Laura HenryAuburn