Current Issues
It seems that the press is taking a few issues and making them a hot topic of conversation. So I thought it would be a good idea to provide you my unfiltered comments and thoughts so that you can know exactly where I stand and what I represent.
Dress Code
I was asked the question about dress code during our candidate forum and again a couple days later by the Bristol Herald Courier. The truth is that I am not ready to contemplate a decision on dress code until we complete the research process. The first step of this process was for the school administration and staff to meet and discuss the problems they face with dress code. We the Board of Education then proceeded to ask the community what they think about the dress code. This is the stage we are at in this process. We are just not at that stage to make a choice. I don’t run on pure emotion or sensationalism because policies born under these circumstances could be detrimental to our children. While I understand the need to try to pin someone down on an issue, I just simply will not compromise on making solid analytical decisions for our children. Give me the data, discussions and debates on an issue, then will I make my choice. But you can be assured the choice I make will always be in favor of our children.
Another reason I am not ready to debate a new policy on dress code is because I am not convinced that our current policy is not working. It could be a matter of enforcement or problems related to enforcement of the current policy. Again, I will not provide solutions to a problem before I understand the cause of the problem. That is just bad policy.
Whatever the end result of this issue, I will make sure that we stay mindful of the socio-economic ramifications of our actions.
School Calendar
There are proponents in our community that support year-around school and those who support longer summers. While there are arguments either way, the truth (as I see it) lies in what our teachers’ need. At some point we must put faith in the teachers and administrators to tell us what they need to create a well educated child. In fact, this is what we do. At the current time, I see no reason to change that because we (the public) hold them accountable, as well as the state and federal government, to achieve certain test scores. Now if the government decides to let our teachers get back to teaching our children instead of teaching to tests, we may be better served by changing how our calendars are developed.