Schools
School-Choice Decision Has Residents In An Uproar
DuBois Little Theater was packed with disgruntled residents, as a 5-1 vote made Plymouth-Canton a limited school of choice destination last week.
Plymouth-Canton school board members voted 5-1 last week to allow 200 K-2 students into the district in an effort to fill gaps in funding and alleviate enrollment issues.
“We know there are finite resources … in fact, they are diminishing resources,” Dr. Michael Meissen, the district’s superintendent, told the Observer and Eccentric. “We believe all kids can learn and all kids can learn at a high level. It’s on us as educators to make sure that happens.”
The decision comes after the school board received its budget of $148 million for the 2014-2015 school year.
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Administrators say that the district’s education bill was cut, leaving the district with a $820,000 deficit.
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What are the arguments for and against the school choice issue?
Residents voiced their concerns about the board not having a public hearing concerning the issue. They also feel that welcoming out-of-district students will hinder property values.
An online petition has been started and has some 900 signatures.
“The way this has been brought up is a decision that left the community out, there are plenty of other options. I think this is a bad decision for the district,” says Kristen Perkins, the creator of the online petition to convince board members to change their decision on the issue.
Cutting media specialist and reading interventionist, the board had to restore those cuts which caused an additional deficit of $1.5 million.
The school-of-choice option is the districts way of making up for the loss it took. The district is also planning on selling its property.
Trustee John Barrett was happy with the decision to get the media specialist and reading interventionist back, and that’s what helped make his decision to support the the board.
“This has been an agonizing decision .. .I’ve vacillated on it,” Barrett said. “We decided to put students and teachers first.”
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