Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I want to float some ideas out there for people to think about. We keep doing the same things within the Pickerington district over and over again, whether people like them or not. Here are some alternative ideas:

Why not give kids and their parents a choice over which high school to attend? There are a lot of hurt feelings over the way North and Central boundaries were defined, and the district keeps going through ''redistricting'' as growth occurs. Relationships are important to kids, and the environment is more conducive to learning and less conducive to troublemaking when the kids are in familiar and comfortable situations. I know personally how difficult it is when those ties are ripped apart and schoolkids don't have any choice in the matter. In my neighborhood, Park Place East, some of the kids and parents would rather be at Central than at North. I understand some kids at Central would rather be at North. Why can't they?

Here's another thought: what about something completely different like charter schools? I don't have much information on these. I know they work in some districts, and I've heard that they can be just as bad as the worst public schools in other districts.

I'm also not familiar with state law on the subject of vouchers - is anyone else? Is this a viable alternative to growth in the area?

It would be interesting to know if other people have had these or other kinds of thoughts on the subject of school choice.

Bussing is one reason

Bussing could turn into a complete nightmare if kids in the same neighborhood wanted to go to different schools.

And if it was up the parents to get the kids to school if it wasn't their 'boundary' assignment then you'd get into an equity issue for those parents who would want to send their kids to a different school.

''I want to send my kids to Central but I have to be to work and just because Mom X can take her kids isn't fair....''

You're never going to make everyone happy so I think boundaries are the best way to go. Not the way their set up currently with the inequity of the way they were established but nonetheless...

It would probably even add to an ever increasing traffic problem if we had kids being driven all over town during school hours.

Just my 2 cents.

By OB1

Great idea, but not PC

I suspect vouchers would provide a decent headcount reduction as many parents would take advantage of them to send their kids to non-PLSD schools. Any approval of them by the PLSD Board though would bring volumes of noise and mis-information from the teachers and other groups that earn their living from captive public education. (Not a lot different then what you are seeing regarding the beginning battle over Social Security.)

Growth is going to be here, unfortunately I do not have any confidence the BOE will approach the issue with any different solutions than we've seen in the past.

How many kids?

I have often wondered how many extra kids would be in our system now if there weren't other options such as CSG, Academy, World Harvest, Bishop Hartley, St. Charles, home schooling, Fisher Catholic, DeSales, and other religious schools in the area.

I shudder at the thought.

Charter schools, done correctly, are a viable option. It is unfortunate that many are run so poorly that they close down quickly. Educational vouchers are another good idea, bt I have only seen them used for the poorer people. I think there would be heck to pay if someone suggested ''rich'' communities like Pickerington get to use them also. I know we would hear, ''You can afford to send your kids wherever you want, or move elsewhere, so you are not getting MY money.''