Wrong.
...If you aren't proactive enough or intelligent enough to navigate the confusing school application processes to enroll your child.
...If your child doesn't "win" a seat in the school lottery.
...If you can't "camp out" in line for a weekend in Memphis in hopes of getting a spot for your child in an optional school.
...If you don't like the way the school is operated, and you have no elected board member to voice your concern to or represent your children.
...If your child isn't a good test-taker and is "counseled" out.
...If your child doesn't speak English.
...If your child has a disability.
...If you cannot provide transportation across town to the "good" school.
...If you can't afford the expensive custom uniforms required by charter schools.
Then your child is stuck in a starving public school across town. Welcome to "choice." Your child's school won't have the resources that other schools have.
...And if you are a smart parent with the intelligence and perseverance to successfully navigate through the "choice" gauntlet and win a seat for your own child at a great school, don't you feel a deep sadness for the children who aren't as fortunate as your own???
(Click HERE to read more at Integrity in Education)
A comment from a Dad on the day that Metro Nashville School District announced the list of students who were lucky enough to "win" a spot in one of their choice magnet schools:
"This is the day that MNPS announces to the world that they cannot stay focused on educating children in nearby neighborhood schools. This is the day they tell us parents that we should seek escape from kids in poverty, by driving miles across town and clogging the streets."
This quote appearing in a Memphis article on optional schools says it well:
"Why not invest that cultural and intellectual capital back into the larger system, or into neighborhood schools, instead of stockpiling excellence within optional schools?"(WKNO NPR for the Mid-South Feb, 18, 2014)
Tennessee parents want strong, well-funded neighborhood schools for EVERY child in Tennessee. Not just the lucky ones with involved parents.
Legislators, vote for PUBLIC SCHOOLS and for EVERY child:
- Vote against Vouchers
- Vote against Charters
- Fully fund the BEP so our public schools are not starved (ClickHERE to see how and why BEP needs adjusting)