School board candidates propose their ideas on year-round schooling Tuesday night (Photo taken by Len Garry, Lenoir Images Lmt.)
LENOIR, USA - Senior citizens in Lenoir School District worry that a proposal for year- round schooling might hit them in the pocket book.
The idea of year- round schooling was presented as an option to reduce large class sizes in city schools at the Lenoir Retirement Center Tuesday night. School board candidates took opposing stands on the proposal.
Some said they believe the plan for a 12-month school schedule could eliminate the need for trailers as classrooms. Candidate Henry Lane supported this position, stating that the multi-tracking schedule that year round schooling supports would reduce the number of students in daily attendance by 25 %.
Not all candidates favored a multi-tracking school schedule. Board President Elton Fay argued that multi-tracking would negatively affect the community. Multi-tracking would mean different school schedules for students of different ages.
Candidates also expressed concerns that year round-schooling would hurt citizen’s pocket books. Elton Fay and Larry Dorman argued that the new schedule would be costlier than adding permanent buildings which the city can’t afford.
The issue of year- round schooling was not fully resolved Tuesday night. Yet, senior citizens reactions made it clear that they did not favor any plan that would affect their wallets.
“ Our taxes have already been raised enough,” said senior citizen Doris Charm, “Our politicians need to learn how to budget money more wisely so that problems like this can be easily fixed.”
Obama Adresses National Education
The issue of year round schooling in our city is controversial and I believe that it needs to be carefully addressed. Some politicians think that year round schooling will have a positive impact on student population and growth; however I fail to see the positive impacts it will have on our children’s overall education. A child’s education is certainly more complex then reading writing and arithmetic. Instead children need social stimulation and interaction as well. They also need time to be children and discover life and reality through their own experiences. I feel that year round schooling would make this difficult to achieve. If children of different ages were sent to school at different times then they would fail to gain an appreciation for human interaction. Subsequently their knowledge in reading, writing and arithmetic will have no meaning in the real world if they are not able to effectively deal with people of all ages and backgrounds. Year round schooling might also decrease a Childs lust for knowledge as well. The break that a long summer gives them to play and relax offers students incentives to work hard while they are in school. If they have nothing to look forward to then why would they want to try hard in the first place? It is time that our community starts to put our children’s educational needs before our own economic needs. I certainly did not attend school all year round and it would be a travesty to expect our children to.
ReplyDelete