School board must consider children first

Spectrum, By Konnis Shuey

It is high time that we all start looking at the needs of our children and what is best for them instead of what is the easiest for us. The Mat-Su Borough School District has just chosen their new school board member to replace Carl Gatto. Susan Welton is a woman, who by her remarks at the school board meeting, made me think she is not in support of home school or any type of alternative education.

Public school was established in the late 1800s with a goal to give everyone in this country a chance to become educated. At that time, there was such a thing as school discipline, school prayer, respect for your country and respect for the flag. In today's society these things are no longer stressed in school. Our children are growing up undisciplined, with no school prayer, no respect for authority and no patriotism. Do we all want this for our children? The answer is no. This is the big reason why so many people choose to home-school their children, or to place their children in private schools. In private schools, there are high standards; not only in academics, but in discipline and respect. They also have prayer in many private schools, especially Christian schools. In private schools, parents are strongly encouraged to participate in their child's education and unlike public schools, it's not just lip service. They really need and want your help. If you home school, you can tailor the child's education to their interests and at the same time have the chance to foster your child's morals and values system, without it being skewed by the alternative agendas being pushed through our public school system.

If we want more people to enroll in the public school, then there needs to be higher discipline standards, and those standards need to be held up by the teachers, principals, superintendant and the school board. The school district needs to be willing to enforce their drug-free zones, and they need to work with the local law enforcement agencies to have periodic drug walk-throughs with a drug dog. There needs to be a policy in place that holds the parents as well as the children accountable for the child's action. If a child vandalizes a school, they should be given a scrub brush and a bucket of hot soapy water and told to clean up the mess. We had to do this when I was in school, and it didn't hurt any of us a bit. If children deface a school, they should be held accountable to make it right.

The school district also needs to keep the student-teacher ratio low, especially in elementary schools. If the student-teacher ratio is raised, I am afraid more people will be pulling their kids out of public schools -- it definitely won't be something people see as a positive move. Take a look at the School Within A School program at Houston Jr/Sr High School. There are smaller class sizes, a better learning environment, and less discipline problems. The public schools need to become more academically challenging and decrease class sizes, this will in turn create a better learning environment with less discipline problems. With less discipline problems there will be less crime, and less crime leads to a safer school and a better learning environment.

Creating better school systems overall should be everyone's goal, and if the community works together, we can see it succeed. I wish Ms. Welton and the rest of the school board success as they tackle some tough issues ahead, but I must stress this: Please, in all cases, do what is best for the kids, and not what is best for you.

Konnie Shuey lives in Wasilla.