Neigborhood schools - its about time...

It's about time we started the process to let children attend school in or near they own neighborhoods. Many years ago there was a need to start busing to help bring good quality education to all children. But much of the problem has been reduced by changes in neighborhood mix and generally improving the effort to provide a good education to all students so the idea of busing children long distances purely to mix the classes and provide better classes for poor or less fortunate students is not the crisis it used to be.

School budgets now include a huge line item just for fuel and transportation expenses that could be substantially reduced by allowing students to attend a school right in their own neighborhood or within a few miles. Many students are forced to get up before daylight just because they are required to ride the bus from their home to a distant school and get home near or after dark much of the year. This is now an outdated forced requirement and could be reduced considerably or eliminated.

If this problem were acknowledged and addressed by our school board members a large part of the transportation budget could be used toward the urgent need to remodel old schools and provide new schools to handle the huge growth in the number of students expected over the next several years. This in turn could help reduce the pressure to issue bonds to fund construction or allow that money to be spread over a longer period of time. If they refuse to address the problem let's vote them out and get new members.

In a December 23rd article in the News and Observer T. Keung Hui (Staff Writer for the paper )said "Frustrated over student reassignments, Garner town leaders have asked their attorney whether they can sue the county school board to keep more Garner children closer to home. "If this lawsuit moves ahead, it's about neighborhood schools," said Garner Mayor Ronnie Williams. "It's about Garner students going to neighborhood schools."

He further notes that the town attorney is researching whether the town could sue the school system, and on what legal grounds. If this can be done it may start a legal process that could help stop the insane practice of making young students spend so much time riding the bus and could let them spend more time actually getting an education and spending quality time with their families.