School Closings

[pennypinch]

I have three kids, one in highschool, one in Jr. High and one in Elementary school. Our local school district where my kids attend have had to do major budget cuts and changes for this upcoming school year.

They have decided to close both of the junior highs which held grades six through eight. So now the six graders will go to elementary and the seventh and eighth graders will go to the highschool. I am very disapointed in this decision.

My fear is for the seventh and eighth graders going to highschool and having the ability to mingle with the older students. Thats a huge age gap. I hate to say it but in every public highschool there are drugs and pregnancies and so on and I hate that these younger, impressionable kids will be exposed to those things on a daily basis. I just don't see good things coming from this.

I understand the money issues but i truly believe that there has to be a better solution.

I know that many districts have been building new schools to house all students, from pre-school to seniors but they have designed those so that there is little to no interaction between the age gaps. This isn't going to be like that because our highschool was not designed for this sort of thing. I don't know, it just has me really concerned.

[moneysense]

What I dont get about this situation is that here in our state, the lottery is supposed to contribute a certain amount of money to the schools and with lottery sales being what they are, I cant understand why schools have to be closed.

Plus, a certain amount of our property taxes goes towards the schools in each area. So, why are the schools being closed? Is it a mismanagement of funds or what?

Then there are the job losses from the school closings. Some teachers may lose theirs, but for sure the janitors at these schools will probably be without jobs because of the transition of students to other schools.

I just dont understand why there are so many school closings when they have money coming in from several different places.

[dimetime]

This is all bullshit if you ask me. No child should be exposed to much older students! Not only will they have to deal with drugs, pregencies and language but also a much higher level of peer pressure.

I also used to purchase lottery tickets because of the fact that a portion of the money went to the area schools.

The only thing I can think of is that the schools are closing because someone or several people are not able to budget money properly and this means that the students and faculty are the ones who have to pay the price.

I personally don't have children so this isn't something that I have had to deal with personally, however I have many friends and family members who have children in school and they too are having to deal with this shit and are also pissed about it.

I strongly believe that the parents of the students should know exactly where the schools money is going if they so wish to know. Then maybe people would be more careful about how they spend the money.

[beaston]

What gets me is when cities and states run into financial troubles, the first thing they do is either raise taxes or cut the education budget. But yet when we 'rebuilt' Iraq, what did they get? Brand spankin' new schools. Some of them are even better than our best schools here in the states.

I read that they just approved a $59B budget to continue funding the "war" over in Afghanistan and Iraq. Just think what all that money could do for our failing educational system.

Let's not forget that these kids are our future. It affects everyone.