Whole-district view will achieve results

Spectrum, by Konnie Shuey

Ms. Welton has brought up the issue of busing children within our school district. She stated that "riding the bus ensures that students get to school and increases the probability that they will be successful and graduate." Whether a child rides a bus to school, carpools, or is driven by their parents is not a reason to measure a child's successes in life, or whether they graduate high school. For a child to be successful in life, they need to have strong parental support and encouragement. When parents are involved with their child(ren), and keep on top of their activities, you will find successful children.

She also seems to think that children who attend charter schools are different than those who attend the "regular" schools as she puts it. She stated, "Charter school parents bring their children to school and pick them up as part of the conditions for attending a charter school. Parents understand and agree to this obligation. There are various reasons why many people cannot do this for their children in our regular schools, including work schedules, unreliable transportation, insufficient funds for fuel, parental illness or disability."

Yes, parents who have their child(ren) attending our charter schools do transport their child(ren) to school, but many of them also work outside the home. No matter where a child goes to school there can be transportation issues to deal with, that is why many people carpool. Parental illnesses, disabilities and money issues can be found among any of our schools, and not just the regular public schools.

Ms. Welton also stated that "Busing high school students only to school has been suggested for core area schools as many students are involved in after-school activities or work." Busing a child only to school is nonsense, unless that is what the parent has requested. To say this is suggested for only the "core area" leaves the outlying areas once again in the dark. Children in Houston, Big Lake, Talkeetna, Willow and any of our outlying areas also participate in after-school activities. It seems as if all she is concerned with, is the core area. I am concerned with the entire Mat-Su Borough, and want to make sure all of our children are adequately served by the school district.

She also stated that, "Our communities have few resources to provide supervision for youth on a daily basis," and that "Young people 'hang out' if they do not go home or engage in activities." I don't know about you, but there where times when my friends and I "hung out" and did things together after school, when we weren't involved in some extracurricular activity. Since when is this a "new" phenomenon? We do have the Mat-Su Boys and Girls Club off Bogard which has many activities for all of our young people and is an excellent resource. We need to encourage our young people to become involved in Youth Court, volunteering their time to help our areas seniors, or to become involved with any of our local nonprofit organizations. We need to encourage them to do something positive for their community. Our youth are a tremendous resource which many of us haven't tapped and they have the energy to be very productive assets.

She also stated that if there were no busing, that it "may leave the only opportunity for education to be home schooling." What is wrong with home schooling? I will agree that it is not for everyone, but it is sometimes the best choice for our child(ren). The reasons why people home school is not "just" because of busing issues. There are a vast array of reasons why people choose to home school. Sometimes home schooling is what works the best for our family. Sometimes we home school because we don't want our children to be taught all of the alternative agendas that are in our public schools. We want a closer hand on our child's education. Sometimes it is because we despise labeling, and don't want our children to be branded with a label that will last the rest of their lives. We know the only way to get them the help they need is by home schooling. Sometimes it is because we would put our children in a private school, so the same morals and values instilled at home would be upheld at school, but can't afford the cost. We all have our reasons why home schooling is the best choice for our child(ren).

Buses or not, we are the ones who are called Mom and Dad. We are the ones to make the decisions we feel are best for our child(ren).

Konnie Shuey is a Mat-Su Borough School Board candidate, Seat B.