I don’t have to tell you that turnout for the PTA Council School Board Candidates Forum on May 4 was lower than low. The high school auditorium seats 1,200 and less than 65 people attended. The attendance included the PTA Council President, three seated board members, approximately 12 school district employees, 10 children under the age of 18, 10 relatives of candidates or board members and 10 regular board meeting attendees. We won’t need “Go Math” to find the answer to the following question, “How many community members came out to hear what the people seeking a seat on our local school board had to say?” But Common Core will help you come up with an actual number of less than 15 people as the answer. So, if the auditorium was to represent the community, again .0125% of the people or no one came out to hear what the people who will be charting the course of our school district had to say. My first thought is we must take the forum to the people since the people won’t come to us. But, how many of our residents and students have access to high-speed internet at home? How many would log on? Wait, before you “Opt Out” this is not a test this is just another example of how we fail ourselves as citizens. Did you know that 70 percent of teachers today say they assign work that requires broadband access (internet access that is faster than dial up access)? We cannot sit back and criticize our public schools when we are not willing to lead by example. Yes, in the boardroom many decisions are made and will continue to be made in the absence of the community. So before we attack or criticize the volunteers who do come out to serve we have to start to hold ourselves, our neighbors and friends accountable for their absence from the process. I accept the fact that people have to work; my educational background is in labor relations and I love labor history. Over 248 years ago the earliest labor strike (movement) was recorded right here in New York. People working to maintain a living is not new to our society, African Americans and others worked through the slave trade and the civil rights movement to establish many of the opportunities we enjoy today.
What am I saying? Stop making excuses. The law says children are entitled to an education. Many times we hear people say we have “free public education.” How is the education free when we all pay federal, state and local school taxes? Education is not free; the right to an education is. We need your help to run our schools. If your new 2016 Chevrolet, BMW or Tundra was not operating effectively you would immediately return to the dealer; so why won’t you return to the school district?
The opinions in this letter, as the one last week titled “Residents Have The Responsibility To Get Involved” are my own, not those of the WUFSD Board of Education.
—Karin B. Campbell, School Board Trustee
