Wednesday, Mar. 17, 2010

Leesville schools' swap is a mistake

We are writing in response to the Wake County Board of Education's recent decision to re-convert Leesville Road Elementary School and Leesville Road Middle School to the traditional calendar.

Our two children attend Leesville Elementary on application, and they have enjoyed every minute of the past two years they've spent at this incredible school.

Needless to say, the news that the Board of Education is removing them from their school did not go over well.

Regardless of what the few vocal parents who cling to a vision of Leesville past are promoting, this is not just about moving widgets from one school to another. The Leesville schools are our schools, too.

The bottom line is that there is no need or large-scale demand for change. As parents, we are left to explain the inexplicable to our children as to why they have to switch schools.

We sum it up this way: A small group of parents saw fit to keep this calendar issue alive. In the process, this marginalized group, not the calendar, divided the Leesville campus.

While the majority of parents have been committed to moving the Leesville campus forward, these few have been committed to re-hashing this issue to the point where they are blind to the negative effect they've had.

Deborah Prickett and other members of the Board of Education clearly heard the voices of these few parents over the many pro-year-round parents and staffers who spoke to them through the survey.

It has been a difficult civics lesson for our children.

Stephen and Debbie Dawes

Raleigh