Jenni's Response to OKC Consolidation Ideas

February 26, 2010 by jenni

Regarding "Consolidation draws debate” (news story, Feb. 16): I attempt regular attendance of Oklahoma City School Board meetings as a parent of students in the system. Meetings begin at 5:30 p.m. Parents wishing to address the board must place their names on the agenda by 5 p.m. After sitting through a program of reports that can last as long as three hours, parents are finally allowed to address the board for exactly three minutes, the end of which is signaled by an egg timer rung loudly into a microphone. No contact between board members and parents is allowed during this process.

Hmmmm....I can pay to leave my kids with a sitter before my husband gets home from work to drive to a board meeting halfway across town, where I can sit for as long as three hours before I’m able to speak f or three minutes regarding the programs, processes and procedures that manipulate the education of my children. Parents are obviously of little thought in this practice. In fact, many of the parents I speak to across the city say they don’t become involved in their child’s educational process because they feel intimidated by the system.

Warehousing more kids in fewer schools further restricts parental access at the local level by escalating the bureaucracy necessary to manage increased enrollment. Why not fund existing schools by terminating programs implemented at the board level over which parents have no control at the school/local level? I have yet to see a report about that.

Jenni White, Oklahoma City

White is co-founder of Restore Oklahoma Public Education.

Read more: http://newsok.com/letters-to-the-editor-wednesday-feb.-24-2010/article/3...