THE CAMELS NOSE
At the Wednesday February 9th 2011 meeting of the Little Compton School Committee I swear I saw the nose of the Camel slipping into the tent. You know the old Arabian fable, if you let the Camel get his nose under the tent, next thing you know the whole Camel will be in the tent with you. It’s the old slippery slope argument.
In their wisdom, or lack of it, depending upon your point of view, following the lead of Kathy Crowley, Superintendent of Schools, The School Committee decided to let the parents of high school students vote on where their children should attend high school for the next several or more years.
It has been all over the local news that the present contract with the Portsmouth School District is about to expire and the School Committee has solicited competitive bids from Portsmouth, Middletown and Tiverton to vie for the lucrative Little Compton Contract.
I could scarcely believe my ears… Little Compton parents are going to exercise school choice! What a novel idea. I’m not sure if that’s what they had in mind when they opened that door, but think of it, parental choice. What a slippery slope.
Right now the taxpayers are dishing out about 10 grand a year per student to outsource the high school students. That does not include transportation. What if instead we give the parents of Little Compton high school students an $8,000 annual voucher per student, and then they can send their charges to any private school of their choice.
Who knows, maybe the idea will catch on and we can apply it to the Middle School aged children and so on and so forth. Next thing you know we might not even need a 70,000 square foot school building with 35 teachers and supporting staff. No Superintend, no Principal, no maintenance staff, and no more Union Contract negotiations.
Several School Building Committee’s and five or more years down the drain and we still can’t get the problems with the school physical plant solved. Maybe we should let the Camel in the tent before the rest of the school falls down.
Sarge
In their wisdom, or lack of it, depending upon your point of view, following the lead of Kathy Crowley, Superintendent of Schools, The School Committee decided to let the parents of high school students vote on where their children should attend high school for the next several or more years.
It has been all over the local news that the present contract with the Portsmouth School District is about to expire and the School Committee has solicited competitive bids from Portsmouth, Middletown and Tiverton to vie for the lucrative Little Compton Contract.
I could scarcely believe my ears… Little Compton parents are going to exercise school choice! What a novel idea. I’m not sure if that’s what they had in mind when they opened that door, but think of it, parental choice. What a slippery slope.
Right now the taxpayers are dishing out about 10 grand a year per student to outsource the high school students. That does not include transportation. What if instead we give the parents of Little Compton high school students an $8,000 annual voucher per student, and then they can send their charges to any private school of their choice.
Who knows, maybe the idea will catch on and we can apply it to the Middle School aged children and so on and so forth. Next thing you know we might not even need a 70,000 square foot school building with 35 teachers and supporting staff. No Superintend, no Principal, no maintenance staff, and no more Union Contract negotiations.
Several School Building Committee’s and five or more years down the drain and we still can’t get the problems with the school physical plant solved. Maybe we should let the Camel in the tent before the rest of the school falls down.
Sarge
posted by Kevin Paul Healey at
8:18 AM
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