Re: On Private School Busing..... -- Dracut Weekly Roundtable

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Subject: Re: On Private School Busing.....

Author:
Donna

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Date Posted: 19:06:26 07/15/03 Tue
In reply to: Karen 's message, "On Private School Busing....." on 05:56:41 07/15/03 Tue

>I just finished listening to the community input
>portion of the School Committee meeting and there were
>three main themes of all the speakers regarding busing
>private school students: it�s a tradition, it weighed
>heavily in their decision to send their children to
>private school, and money.
>
>My thoughts:
>
>1. Slavery, hazing, and denying women the right to
>vote were all traditions. Granted these are extreme
>examples compared to busing private school children,
>but just because something has �always been done this
>way� doesn�t mean it�s acceptable or efficient.
>Sometimes change is necessary.
>
>2. If not having a bus to the private school will mean
>a parent pulls his child from private school then that
>parent needs to look at his commitment to that school
>in the first place. If the transportation weighs more
>heavily than what actually happens when the child
>attends the school then maybe the parents should
>examine their reasons for putting children in private
>school. If it is important enough then find a way to
>make it happen. I would bet these same parents found
>a way to send their children to pre-school even though
>there was no bus.
>
>3. If the average cost to educate one child per year
>is $6200 then there is not one household in town that
>actually covers that cost. Remember that this is a
>community where taxes are a cooperative entity. We
>all pay our share and the money goes to many services
>that we may or may not ever use. If the tax bill was
>to be paid based on what services each household used
>then those with children would be paying far more than
>those without; there�d be service charges every time
>the police or fire departments were called; and each
>book taken out of the library would have a fee. The
>argument that parents of private school children are
>actually �saving� the town money just doesn�t hold
>water.
>
>The School Committee did what every business does:
>look at the items that effect the least amount of
>people and determine whether it�s good business
>practice or not to continue this item. People
>complain all the time that the problem with government
>is that it�s not run like a business, yet when it
>finally begins to work like a business, the people
>complain anyway. No business would keep an
>under-performing item just for the sake of the 1% who
>use it or because it�s �tradition�. The School
>Committee did the right thing by thinking �outside the
>box�.
Bravo!! Karen. I wholeheartedly agree with you. Parents who opt to send their children to private school must also take on all the responsibilites that come with it. If that means providing transportation then so be it. I also am glad that the School Committee is working more like a business. Change is good!!

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
$45,000 goes a long way.	Michael H.	05:18:33 07/20/03 Sun