As I've said before, I really do like the school district we are in. We moved to Liberty because of the schools. Now, it looks like several of us will be fighting with the school.
One of the main reasons we bought this house was because there is an elementary, middle school, junior high and high school with in one mile of our house...or so we thought.
It all started as a quiet rumor. Noelle came home from school saying she may have to go to the other junior high. No way, we thought, the other one is three miles away. Why would she go to that one when when there is one one mile away? We didn't hear anymore about. Then, Sunday, I got an email from someone from church whose daughter is in Michael's grade and son is in Noelle's. She asked if I knew about the boundary meeting that was open for comments.
Could this be real? I got another email from a different mom who said not only was there a boundary issue, but a budget issue as well. (don't even get me started on the things they want to cut)
They had a budget meeting on Monday night and I asked why there was a need for the tax payers to pay for district employees to have cell phones. Answer~safety. I pointed out the fact that before cell phone were ever used, people used house phones and schools managed to run successfully. (they did say that employees will now have to pay for the personal use of cell phones~WHAT, why just now and not before???)
I also asked why taxpayers needed to pay for the grass to be green at all the schools when most of us can't afford to water our grass. Answer~image and again "safety". I questioned the safety and he started to mention playing fields. I explained that, while I can understand the safety issue regarding football, soccer and baseball fields, I really don't think that "green grass" is what makes a parent select Liberty as the district for their child. There was no answer for that.
At the boundary meeting on Tuesday, at an auditorium that was about 3/4 full, I was one of about 40 parents and members of the community who spoke. If the school board was wondering if the parents and students were happy about the proposed changes, I think they have their answer.
One of the big things my neighbors and I are fighting, is the fact that they are wanting to take Michael, and the other soon to be middle schoolers in our neighborhood, out of a school that is under capacity and have them go to one that is over capacity. How over capacity is this other school? It will have 39 students too many. How many soon to be middle schoolers from our neighborhood are they wanting to move? Would you believe 39!?!
We are going to put the time and location for the next two public meetings on the sign outside the shop so that others in the community can know when and where to be. There are several of us in the neighborhood who will be passing out fliers to every person in our subdivision.
One of the biggest problems about this whole thing is the fact that parents were not properly informed and then there is the issue that there are members of the boundary committee that have publicly stated they agree with the proposal and that their neighborhoods' disapproval is not going to change it. (it was not pretty when they were saying that at the meeting Tuesday)
The number one complaint at the meeting was that according to the district website, the role of the boundary advisory committee is "primarily to advise the Board of Education on community issues and desires regarding boundary changes". Not one parent or community member could raise their hand to say they had been asked for their opinion or at the very least informed about what was going on.
Each school had two people on the committee, meaning that there were, in our case, four people. We never got a phone call, email or snail mail from any one, not one.
The kids and their friends are wanting to make posters and t-shirts to wear to the next two open meetings. Michael and all the other kids in 5th grade signed a petition to keep them all together.
Who know where this will all go.
