Skip to main content

How other districts offer options to families

I came across a blog post from a teacher, Patrick Kelly, that wonderfully encapsulates my feelings as a parent trying to decide what’s best for my children’s education. The post is titled: Finding the Right School for Your Kid Shouldn’t Be a Privilege. The South Carolina district in which this teacher lives and teaches offers school options across district elementary schools, magnet schools, and a charter school.

He states: “My daughters attend one of these magnets, a school that utilizes inquiry-based learning models. My wife and I carefully considered the choice to send our daughters to this school, as they are zoned to attend an incredible elementary school with exceptional administrators and staff. As a result, our decision on where to send our daughters wasn’t a rejection of one school; it was an opportunity to embrace a school structure and approach that we, as parents, felt best fit the educational needs and learning styles of our children.”

I thought this was a very nice way of stating it and wanted to share.

From his district’s website describing their Choice Program: “Richland School District Two students are assigned to schools based on their residential address, they may apply to a magnet school or another school within the district through the Choice program. This program offers parents and students residing in Richland District Two the opportunity to request permission to attend a school other than their residentially assigned school.”

This is a great model.

Popular posts from this blog

We believe

All children want to learn. Not all children learn the same way at the same pace. All parents do their best to provide their children with the best possible educational opportunities. There are many kinds of learning environments suited to many kinds of learners. Every child should have access to free, public education where they thrive as learners. All citizens share the responsibility for making this education available to all. If children have what they need, it is better for everyone. We do not have to compete for resources. When we work together, we are stronger. When adults model how to collaborate using conversation, children learn how to collaborate using conversation. All children deserve to feel included, welcome and safe in all schools and neighborhoods. We are all on the same side, the side of all children. - from a few local parents whose children attend Ross Valley Charter School

Proposition 39 & RVC

There is some debate in the community about whether Ross Valley Charter School (RVC) is “taking” space from District students by being at White Hill. The reality is that the law does not give District public school students any greater right to publicly-funded school facilities than charter public school students. In fact, the law requires that all such facilities be made equally available by Districts to charter schools so they may have a place to operate. How much space should RVC receive? The math is simple. RVC’s projected enrollment of 144 in-district students for 2018-19, which is 45% or roughly half of the average  RVSD enrollment of 319 students per school (projected). Under Proposition 39, this means that RVC should receive nearly half the amount of space a typical K-5 RVSD elementary school provides to its students. All four elementary schools in the district have at least 22 classrooms each, so RVC should be provided 10 rooms at a minimum. The actual calculations are m...

Better Salaries for Teachers

A worthy cause. Better salaries for teachers... Higher salaries for all school teachers would be a good thing, but West Virginia teachers are in a particularly bad spot. They are some of the lowest paid teachers in the country. Link to a Change.org petition to West Virginia's governor below. From Change.org petition: "Teachers in West Virginia have been on strike for more than a week, demanding the state pay their public employees more. West Virginia Congressional candidate Richard Ojeda started this petition because he wants to see teachers 'treated as professionals rather than inconveniences.' Sign now if you agree."