Here is the letter I sent yesterday. I hope everyone takes a few minutes to send in as well!
Dear Dr. Estrella, Mayor Rilling, Board of Education members and Common Council members,
I am writing to express my concern regarding the BOE decision on Open Choice in middle school. While I am in favor of Open Choice for those that wish to go to a school outside of their zoned middle schools, I amagainst not giving preference to zoned students.
For those that may say that it might be rare to not match in your zoned school, I would like you to look at Roton’s current 8th grade class, which received a large influx of new students this year and classes are either at maximum or OVER maximum capacity. If this was an incoming 6th grade class, there would be a very good chance my child or his friends would be forced to be bussed across town.
Over the years, there have been many conversations about the importance of a school in SoNo. Many points were made about the benefits of going to a school near home, ability for parents to attend PTA meetings and community events, and how unfair it was to bus students far away from home. We seem to be going backwards now. As a working parent whose children can walk to school, my children would not be able to attend before or after school help or before and after school activities (unless NPS is prepared to pay for an additional fleet of buses which would be running the same time as elementary school). They would spend a large amount of time on a bus every day that could be spent playing or studying. There is also a concern of an environmental impact from this increased busing, which seems to go against the push towards making the areas around schools more walker friendly.
Moving kids around to different schools does not change the problems that are occurring in middle schools in Norwalk. We in the PTAs and SGCs at the middle school level have been begging for more funding, more teachers, more rigorous coursework, more social supports, more opportunities for our children after and before school, and better facilities. Literally begging. This money being spent to bus children all over the city could be spent in our schools.
It would be helpful to survey our 5th grade parents and see where they would send their children if they had a choice. Is there a middle school that parents consistently want to leave/avoid and is there a school that is in high demand? If so, how is forcing children to go to the undesirable school equitable? Why are we not doing a root cause analysis to figure out why there are differences and looking for ways to improve them so that all of our middle schools are succeeding?
I urge you to make the following changes. Allow students, who wish to go to another middle school, to enter a lottery for any remaining spots at a middle school after zoned students are placed. Provide busing for those that need it. Start meeting with parents and staff at our schools and ask them what they need to make their school better. I am more than happy to join that conversation.
Sincerely,
Alyson Smith
Mom to Alexa (Roton Class of 2021), David (Roton Class of 2023), William (Roton Class of 2025), and Amanda (hopefully???? Roton class of 2030)