Blogs > Frye on the News

Keeping his eye on the news and offering commentaries and insights on what is happening in Oakland County, around the world, on the tube and in the news.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Schools of choice or not?

Not much choice if you're forced to be a schools of choice district, hm? It seems that local control should involve some kind of control of one's district on a local level. That seems reasonable, right?

We still elect school boards to manage our schools, so many do not want the governor to take away the issue, but readers bring up many good points. We asked this on Facebook:

A bill in the Senate would open all schools to Schools of Choice, allowing for parents to enroll students in any district that has space. What do you think? Do you support this, or do you think schools should remain community-based?
Lake Orion board members, parents and teachers form group opposing Senate’s Schools of Choice bill W
www.theoaklandpress.com
Under the bill, a student would be allowed to enroll in any district in the state, as long as the student was a resident of Michigan.
· · · 9 hours ago

  • Joan G. Berndt likes this.
    • Eric Mende I support the premise of it but would have to know all the paticulars on it.
      9 hours ago ·
    • Eric Mende Note to school boards: get your junk together and become competitive with the prefered school districts in the area
      9 hours ago · · 2 peopleLoading...
    • Jeannie Thibault Parents have the RIGHTS to place their children where they believe the children will get the BEST POSSIBLE EDUCATION!
      8 hours ago ·
    • Metro Detroit Mommy Positive: parents can choose their school and no longer be bound by their economic boundaries that tie them to low performing schools.
      Negatives: School that are not doing so well will die out and that process is really tough on the students and staff members that are left. The SOC is only really available to students whose parents care enough to seek out an alternative school and arrange for transportation each day. What happens when all the seats are filled at the "best" schools? Will they be forced to open new school?
      7 hours ago ·
    • Susan Averbuch Break down those walls, Governor Snyder! Break down those walls, including the private school, Green Hills, where you send your children. If it's good for public, it's good for private! Tear down that $20,000 economic barrier that prevents other parents from attending Green Hills. Here we come, I'll personally drive the bus to drop off the kids at Green Hills.
      7 hours ago ·
    • La'Salle Beatriz Surely separation of education is not the answer, but on the other hand, students being allowed to attend non-public schools or public schools in an enriching environment may find it difficult to understand that this transition is more complex than most care to discuss.
      6 hours ago ·
    • Brandon Pricopio So I work hard everyday and pay more taxes so that my children can go to a good school. Yet someone who doesn't work at all can send there child to the same school? Whatever happened to working hard for what you have? I went to a terrible school in the slums! I promised myself I wouldn't let my kids do the same. SO I WORKED FOR IT.
      5 hours ago ·
    • Brandon Pricopio Also our property values are low enough. This would kill them
      5 hours ago ·
    • Joan G. Berndt Good for Lake Orion. I support them. This sounds like such a simple solution for kids to get a better education. It isn't. What will happen is that the "good" schools will be overburdened, and their taxpayers will end up footing the bill for all the new kids who come into the system with only their foundation grants, the so called "poor" schools will be devastated with only those left whose parents don't care about the education their kids get, and in the end there will be no outstanding schools left in MI and the overall educational quality everywhere will suffer.
      5 hours ago ·
    • Sharon Chilson I believe that children should attend schools in their own communities. Saying that means I also believe that all schools in all communities should be good schools. Bussing/driving childen to schools outside of their communities in order for them to attend a better school
      leaves the children who can't afford to be bussed/driven in schools that are inadequate and therefore those children will receive poor educations. Improve the schools that are failing, that's the ticke.
      5 hours ago · · 1 personLoading...
    • Brian Kitchin Keep the kids where their parents live. 49% of Detroit kids didn't go to school the 1st day. Is another school going to help? If the parents are losers and the ones that do go to school want to be rappers and thugs then why send them to schools in communities where the taxpayers care? Politically correct? NO. But sadly it's true. Fix their schools. They are certainly getting enough taxpayer dollars.
      4 hours ago ·
    • Cassadega Gold COMMUNITY BASED!!!!
      2 hours ago ·
    • Jo Nielson The problem is that these kids can't wait for their poor performing schools to be fixed. They need better choices now. How many years have we been talking about this? How many people in our region can't read or do simple math? There are legitimate economic reasons why we need to help these kids have a better future. Companies won't set up shop here if they can't find employees that can read/write/do basic math.

      Inaction has consequences. At this point, I'd prefer that the generation we are raising doesn't turn out as badly as mine did.

      Failing schools shouldn't be open. They aren't serving their primary purpose. Schools aren't open for adults to have jobs, but to educate our kids. If the kid has behavior problems in the new school, there's nothing to say that they can't be expelled. A lot of the opposition seems to be fear-based and there's nothing scarier to me than leaving another generation of kis to learn about life from the streets.

posted by Stephen Frye at 12:52 PM

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

SOC:
State's pt. of view:
We have inner city districts across the state with...
*Deteriorating schools with declining populations and a tax base on homes of lesser value; no millage support.

BUT..we have suburban schools across the state with...
*NICE schools with declining populations and a tax base on homes of HIGHER value..WITH millage support.

SOooo... we close the inner city schools, give the 'educating' dist. only the $ given the old schools....done!!

NO!! Who pays 4 'remedial' classes? You gonna talk residents into paying for computer/lab/maint. up-grades on THEIR taxes to make YOUR headache go away? I pd. more for my house, more in taxes to be in a good dist. as an INVESTMENT!! You're gonna take that from me?

And you say 'no child ever suspended' or 'having a felony' (please?) will be able 2 transfer. So ur gonna have 'delinquent' schools?

Do that, and u should change 'Pure Michigan' to 'Michigan, the BEST place to visit..', so everyone under their breath can finish with 'but I wouldn't want to live there.'

October 20, 2011 at 4:54 PM 

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home