Monday, October 05, 2009
Demand more of city schools
From the RoundTable blog
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John Palecki
Palecki lives in Roanoke.
Thanks to the reporting in the paper, we all are aware of the Roanoke school busing privatization fiasco.
The disruptions to home life and the schools' staff have been enormous for three weeks now. Parents can't get through to the bus company and are asked for employment leads when they do. Face it: After three weeks, the company and school administration have failed us.
I live on a modest street in the city and, in our short time here, several families have moved out to the county as their young ones come of school age. Even teachers in the system have taken their kids out to enroll them in private schools. I wonder why.
Meanwhile, Superintendent Rita Bishop rewarded her administrative staff with raises this year while cuts were going on. For what? And the school board runs our schools with no direct accountability to the citizens who pay for the schools and send their children there.
It is time for Roanoke to change to an elected school board. The citizens need a greater voice in the happenings at the central office.
Roanokers need to expect more from their school leadership if we are to retain and attract young families here.
And, yes, perhaps we all need to kick in more every year to pay for quality public schools.
It does not come cheap anymore. What is more important than the welfare and education of the future citizens of Roanoke?
