Below is a letter I wrote to the Board of Education, Mayor, and Superintendent of Schools of my local town. Although we have differing opinions, to the credit of the mayor I received a response from him the following day. I received no response from anyone else until after I inquired a second time. An individual that did not identify his role finally responded.
Board of Education and All Relevant Parties:
As a parent of school-aged children, a Bristol tax payer, and a voter, I would like to voice my displeasure at the decision to dismiss schools early during the week of June 9th, 2008. The reason cited for the early dismissal was "extreme heat".
I do not believe the weather of this recent heat wave is a valid reason to dismiss schools. Never before have I heard of schools being dismissed due to heat. On one hand, taxpayers are asked to give the highest priority to our children's education. Each year the school budget increases, along with the tax burden to support this. Even in these economically tough times, tax payers are asked to dig deeper into their pockets year after year to support education. This is all in the name of providing the highest quality education to our children. On the other hand, school is cavalierly dismissed due to a few days of high temperatures that, although high, are certainly not unheard of for Connecticut in June. If the education of our children is so critical to our community and nation (which I believe that it is) then how can one justify eliminating valuable instructional hours? You can't have it both ways.
What do schools in other parts of the world do when dealing with temperatures in the mid-nineties Fahrenheit? One may argue that in areas like Florida and Texas, where temperatures routinely exceed 90 F, that the schools are equipped with air conditioning. Were all the schools dismissed recently in Bristol and throughout Connecticut devoid of air conditioning? What about regions outside the US? What about place like Mexico and India? Do all their schools have air conditioning, and if not, do they send their students home when temperatures exceed 90 F? I seriously doubt it. What about here in Connecticut in years past? What did the schools do 50 years ago when there was definitely no air conditioning in the schools? How did students possibly survive? They did something that seems to be diminishing in this new culture of coddling in the United States: they persevered.
School is not always going to be easy for children. It takes some dedication. It can take some mental toughness. These are lessons that students will take with them throughout their lives. If the job of public education is to prepare kids for life in the "real world", you can be assured that the children of Connecticut did not get a dose of life in the real world this past week.
I don't know what forces caused the mass canceling of classes throughout Connecticut during this recent heat wave. Regardless, we as a community look to the school administrators to stand up to pressure in order to do what's best for the education of our children. For the sake of our children, the community, and the nation, I would hope that the decision makers would take more seriously the time our children have in school. Is canceling classes the only option? I hope in the future decision makers would think twice before denying our children the opportunity to learn.
As a parent of school-aged children, a Bristol tax payer, and a voter, I would like to voice my displeasure at the decision to dismiss schools early during the week of June 9th, 2008. The reason cited for the early dismissal was "extreme heat".
I do not believe the weather of this recent heat wave is a valid reason to dismiss schools. Never before have I heard of schools being dismissed due to heat. On one hand, taxpayers are asked to give the highest priority to our children's education. Each year the school budget increases, along with the tax burden to support this. Even in these economically tough times, tax payers are asked to dig deeper into their pockets year after year to support education. This is all in the name of providing the highest quality education to our children. On the other hand, school is cavalierly dismissed due to a few days of high temperatures that, although high, are certainly not unheard of for Connecticut in June. If the education of our children is so critical to our community and nation (which I believe that it is) then how can one justify eliminating valuable instructional hours? You can't have it both ways.
What do schools in other parts of the world do when dealing with temperatures in the mid-nineties Fahrenheit? One may argue that in areas like Florida and Texas, where temperatures routinely exceed 90 F, that the schools are equipped with air conditioning. Were all the schools dismissed recently in Bristol and throughout Connecticut devoid of air conditioning? What about regions outside the US? What about place like Mexico and India? Do all their schools have air conditioning, and if not, do they send their students home when temperatures exceed 90 F? I seriously doubt it. What about here in Connecticut in years past? What did the schools do 50 years ago when there was definitely no air conditioning in the schools? How did students possibly survive? They did something that seems to be diminishing in this new culture of coddling in the United States: they persevered.
School is not always going to be easy for children. It takes some dedication. It can take some mental toughness. These are lessons that students will take with them throughout their lives. If the job of public education is to prepare kids for life in the "real world", you can be assured that the children of Connecticut did not get a dose of life in the real world this past week.
I don't know what forces caused the mass canceling of classes throughout Connecticut during this recent heat wave. Regardless, we as a community look to the school administrators to stand up to pressure in order to do what's best for the education of our children. For the sake of our children, the community, and the nation, I would hope that the decision makers would take more seriously the time our children have in school. Is canceling classes the only option? I hope in the future decision makers would think twice before denying our children the opportunity to learn.
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