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The ever-so-elite GISD Lack of Trustee Kelly “codeword” Chambers believes that what parents want in Galveston are a choice as to where to send their children to school. She thinks they want to pour over the “Schools of Choice” brochure that doesn’t say what the programs really are, doesn’t say why they were created and doesn’t tell the whole story like there won’t be any sports or what happens when the Grant money runs dry.
Chambers may think that 6-year-olds know they want to attend International Studies or Coastal Studies but I don’t even know many high school students who really know what they want to major in at college. GISD can't effectively implement the latest curriculum in the schools but they think they'll implement some gimmick in the elementary schools to cover the stench.
Why would 5th and 6th graders in the Early College Prep or Early College High School be prepared for College any differently than those at the “traditional” middle schools?? Is that a good thing? Will the “traditional” middle school students not get a good enough education to get into college? How about the student at one of these Early College grant schools who wants to participate in a sport? There are not enough students in those schools to field a team. So their middle school experience is thus limited and unequal to other middle schools.
What GISD has done is to create a mess for parents. It’s not Schools of Choice – it’s Schools of Chance. If you attend your neighborhood school and apply on time, you can remain there. You don’t even have to care what the “theme” is. If you miss your application or get it in too late, you are OUT! Then GISD will stick you somewhere where they have space.
If you want your child to be challenged or have a child who is a “higher achieving student”, you might get them into the Magnet School if they meet the matrix and get one of the limited spaces. If not, you’re “choice” is out. If “the committee” thought this education so great, why limit it?
The STEM program choice at Ball is supposedly a lottery – if you don’t get chosen, you don’t get in. Choice? No, chance.
Each one of these grant based schools of choice created by GISD is limited in enrollment and has barriers to entry. That is NOT choice! Parents do not have a choice when it’s up to someone else to determine which school their child will attend! At least with neighborhood schools, we can actually decide in which school zone we wanted to live. Now, it’s all just random chance. And who will end up suffering? The Children. Those who don't get into their school of choice will face disappointment, discouragement and degredation. That's not right to do to children. They'll face that soon enough - let them be children.
The only school GISD has “created” that a parent can be assured to get their “choice”, is Weis and Central “traditional” middle schools! That’s it – Weis and Central middle schools!! If you want to go there, no problem. Everywhere else, you’ve got a problem.
What parents want are for their children to be educated in the basics at the elementary school level and then a progressively more challenging and expansive education as they grow up. Basic School like America used to have. You know, the schools that used to produce the engineers that sent men to the moon, built cars and computers and the Space Shuttle. Schools that used to produce great writers and artists and architects. That’s what parents want. We want our children to be able to go to school with their friends and with their neighbors. We want to be able to go to our children’s schools and visit them, get to know the staff, be involved. We want our children to be safe, to be taught the basics, and to enjoy school. We want them to be educated so they can grow up and be productive citizens and take care of themselves. Different generation - same goal.
GISD can’t seem to take that simple fundamental goal and implement it.
Shame on the Lack of Trustees.
I hope they feel OUR CHOICES at each of the next elections!!
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