Re: Ya Gotta Love Those �Christians�! -- Dracut Weekly Roundtable

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, [4] ]

Subject: Re: Ya Gotta Love Those �Christians�!

Author:
Ms Hayward

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 21:45:40 08/22/03 Fri
In reply to: Donna L 's message, "Re: Ya Gotta Love Those �Christians�!" on 17:55:49 08/21/03 Thu

But you see Donna, all 832 private school children are not complaining about the lack of bussing. Only 100 or so parents are. And as far as I can see, if a fee for a bus service is the only thing that's stopping you from continuing the private school education that you decided on for your child, then it wasn't that important to begin with. I'm not dissing a private school education by any means, I think that if that's your choice for your child it is an excellent one.

I will agree with only one point from Kathy's statement, this should not be an "us vs them" issue. It should not be an issue of private vs public it should be an issue of what is right and sensible during tough budget situations. Have you been to the registry lately? I have and almost all costs have gone up. Look at any fees for real estate transactions or other legal filings etc. they've all gone up. Why? because this state is on financially shaky grounds and Governor Romney and the legislature have increased fees and decreased funding. Some of that funding went to our transportation budget. The School Committee acted in a way that they deemed appropriate to inflict the least amount of harm to our schools while trying to make up a $262,000 transportation budget deficit. Note that I said transportation. This means that the cutting can only come from within that budget. The school committee cannot take it from the net school spending part of the budget which is what covers new parking lots and building improvements. It cannot take it from the athletics budget of the high school which covers their transportation costs. They had to take it from somewhere so yes they cut the private school bussing from the budget. But they didn't cut it entirely. They came up with a solution by which at least 85 people pay between $150-$300 and they will continue to have a bus provided. They didn't have to do that. As May Paquette put it, "I was elected to take care of the Public Schools." The could have easily cut it and that would be the end of it and no amount of visits on community input or threats to have them taken out of office would change that. Tewksbury did exactly that they cut it right out never to be heard from again.

Instead, the School Committee spent 5 weeks working with many people and many obstacles to come up with a solution to keep the bussing for you. Unfortunately, it wasn't what you wanted to hear but at least it wasn't cutting it completely. Perhaps in the weeks to come another solution may be worked out but this will have to do or not do for now.

It was a wonderful thing that Harvey Gagnon was able to do for the private school parents/children of this town but it can't go on any more. Mr. Gagnon has retired and the new bus company is not as generous. Time marches on and things that were traditional and nice may not be able to continue and sadly this is one of them. And if 832 children come back into the public schools then so be it. I've already put one child through the Dracut Public School system with 3 more to go and I have a very positive attitude towards the whole experience. (Let me also take this moment to dispel a few rumors: There are not 30 kids in a class and there haven't been for a long time. The teachers do not spend there entire teaching time dealing with disruptions in class. Nobody is having sex under the stairs or in the bathrooms at either the Englesby or the Lakeview Junior High and most of all there's a whole lot of learning going on.)--sorry I digressed but some of those rumors really bug me. Anyway, I have been an involved parent from the beginning and so are many many many other parents. Staying involved with your child and their school is the best way to have a positive education in public or private situations. If you all come back then I think you'll be pleased at what you find. But personally, I think that you'll more than likely stay where you are, where your kids are comfortable and hopefully work towards another solution for next year or at least a way to continue this year's solution.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]