Posted by turtle (anonymous) on June 15, 2009 at 11:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The students who will have Tiffiany Oliver are lucky indeed. She is a wonderful person. Also those sixth graders who get Dana Calvert as she moves to the middle school are lucky as well.

Posted by southalabama (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 7:39 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Apparently, no parents showed up at the meeting to protest the abrupt closing of the after-school program. It would seem that the uprising was much ado about nothing.

Congratulations to all the new hires.

Posted by turtle (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 9:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)

There wouldn't have been a need. It was just like the uniforms, a vote was taken and approved without knowledge of the parents and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Unless it were to affect the "elite" of TCS then the decision had already been made.

Posted by Ramsey (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 9:55 a.m. (Suggest removal)

@turtle

I thought there was a great deal of discussion about the uniforms and it certainly wasn't done without parents knowing about it. In regard to the after-school program, parents were notified. According to the information put out about the after-school program it was losing money. You can't continue a program like that and not at least break even.

Posted by sunflower (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 10:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Praise God!! One of the new hires in particular is an answer to prayers lifted up by many. Thank all of you who have been diligent in your petitions to our Father above. Pray that God will give all of our teachers the wisdom, understanding, and patience to teach our children well and help them become individuals of integrity and character.

Posted by justmyopinior (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 10:44 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Turtle:
You missed the boat on the uniform thing. There was plenty of opportunity to share opinions and have input by parents before the uniforms went into effect. The after school program was also losing money and I for one don't want to see a program in existence losing money that only serves about 25 or so kids.

Posted by southalabama (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 1:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Ramsey, are you sure the parents were notified before the decision was made to close the program? From our previous discussion on the subject, no one knew until it was printed in the newspaper. Even some of the employees who posted comments said the first they heard about it was through the newspaper.

Posted by Ramsey (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 2:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Turtle,

No, I don't know for certain, I made an assumption and I know that no one should assume anything. If they were not notified, they should have been. They do however, have eight to ten weeks to find a different source for after-school care.
Thanks for pointing that out.

Posted by roundup (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 4:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I guess Turtle wasn't the only one missed out on the decision/discussion on uniforms. I was all for the uniforms at first thinking I would save money. I had to buy 3 set of uniforms because my daughter outgrew them. When you have to order uniforms (quality material) you're out more money and then you still have to buy extra clothes because girls can't wear their uniforms anywhere but school. Atleast the boys can wear their pants to other places.

Posted by justmyopinior (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 4:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Roundup:

Why can't girls wear pants, shorts, and shirts other places?

Posted by turtle (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 6:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Ramsey why is the second post directed at me? Oh well, what I meant by my post was this. Back when the uniforms were being discussed, yes the board entertained parents' opinions on the phone. However parents were informed by board members, and school employees on the day of the meeting that a vote would not be taking place, it would take place at a later date. We (at the time I was a TCS parent and actually in favor of uniforms), were told the meeting would only discuss logistics of the uniform policy such as violations, etc. Therefore there were only a few in attendance at the meeting and the board voted in favor of uniforms. It was an underhanded way of doing things, just as the vote on the after-school program was underhanded because even employees didn't know it was even an issue until after the vote had taken place. Regardless of whether people have eight to ten weeks, etc it is a dirty way of doing things and those types of actions will cause people to not have any faith or trust in the school board. I stopped and that, among other reasons, is why I pulled my child from the city system and both she and I are much happier in the county. I know of quite a few other parents who are in the process of pulling their children out and going to county as well because of these issues.

Posted by Ramsey (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 7:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Sorry Turtle, I didn't read it very carefully, trying to do too many things at one time. I should have been addressing southalabama. I am sorry you had that type of experience with the city schools. I had a good experience over the years that my three were there.
There may well be people leaving and I am sorry they are, but I am glad that you and your daughter are better satisfied in the county. We have good schools in both systems and I hope that parents will continue to hold their students, their teachers, and their administrators accountable for providing a quality education!

Posted by edpworker2 (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 7:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I am sad to see that it appears there was no discussion/protest to the closing of Extended Day. I myself was unable to attend the meeting, but I do know that there were some parents willing to show up or do some other means of protesting the program's closing. I felt I needed to comment to once again stress that the program did not just serve 25 or 30 students and their parents. The program had more than 100 kids registered. And while most did not come everyday, some parents registered their children as a backup in case their other after school care didn't work out, or only needed to send their children there a couple of days a week or as needed. Unlike most other programs, Extended Day only charged for the days a child attended. If a child only came one day a week, they were only charged $6 for that week. Not everything that was said about the closing was true. Also, no one was notified of the decision to close the program until it was printed in the paper. Parents nor employees were informed before. We (the employees) were told that they were looking into the numbers and may consider closing, but we were not given any advance warning, which I felt was a very sneaky, shady and underhanded thing to do these kids and their parents. I hope that these parents are able to find an alternative, affordable childcare that will provide the same activities and care that we provided.

Posted by turtle (anonymous) on June 16, 2009 at 11:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I agree Ramsey, there are some great teachers and people in both systems. I just really lost faith in the school board after the handling of things and I also got tired of my child coming home upset after being told those with the highest averages would be chosen for specific things, then for those children to be left behind and others who had parents in the system and such being the ones chosen. It really upset not just her but others as well who were giving their all to be pushed back because their parents weren't "in".

Posted by NotPerfect (anonymous) on June 17, 2009 at 8:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)

To edpworker2:
I am glad that you posted this~ I was one of the parents that registered & paid a fee for registration just about one month before I read it in the paper that it was discontinued. At this point, I'm not sure what we are going to do. I don't understand what the problem is??? Like I have said before, surely the University has education students that would volunteer their time for 2 hours out of the day to 'work with children'. We have no bus system, so what exactly do they expect parent's that actually have 8-5 jobs to do? I don't know about everyone else in general, but I cannot leave work every day to pick up from the school. If parent's aren't paying like they should, do like any other daycare & don't allow them to continue staying until it's paid up. Raise the price....just do something. If there had been a meeting where this was discussed with the board, I can assure you that I would have been there (if I had known about it). So far, I haven't heard anything about the refund of the 'registration fee' that I paid.

Posted by blissfullygreen (anonymous) on June 17, 2009 at 10:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)

People who spent more money on uniforms than regular clothes need to learn how to shop! We saved a TON of money this year with the uniforms and hope there is never a decision to go back to regular school clothes.

As for closing the Extended Day program, that was news to me, but then again, we don't use it. As for the payment issue, to my knowledge, ED was $5 a day or $25 a week. That is the cheapest after school daycare on the planet. Some of these parents who weren't paying, were probably still spending $40 a week on a carton of cigarette's, but failing to pay for the child's care. Sure, the economy is bad, but finding an extra $25 a week should not be that hard. Give up something and the money will be there.

I also want to say that the PUBLIC knows when school board meetings are held. You can find out what is on the agenda by calling the BOE office. You can attend every single meeting if you choose to do so--I believe there are some parents who do just that. TCS Board did nothing "under-handedly" like Turtle accuses them of doing regarding this ED matter. The school system has a Board who makes decisions. Sure, it would have been good for the parents involved to voice an opinion and they could have if they had checked the BOE agenda. It is not the job of the BOE to publish their agenda in the Messenger. It is the interested parties responsibility to GET THE INFORMATION!! The BOE is not in the business of hand-holding and sending out invitations to meetings. If you are a concerned parent, MAKE THE EFFORT to educate yourself about board meetings!! If you choose not to, then you can't complain!

Posted by roundup (anonymous) on June 17, 2009 at 2:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Just my opinior - who in the heck want to wear them darn uniforms everywhere they go? not to church of course.

Blissfullygreen - I know how to shop thank you very much!

Posted by justmyopinior (anonymous) on June 17, 2009 at 4:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)

The pants don't have a prison strip down the side and the shirts don't have a name tag on them! They are simple articles of clothing that can be mixed and matched to wear anywhere. Watch "What Not To Wear"! You'll get it!!

Posted by soldier (anonymous) on June 17, 2009 at 8:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Turtle: Let me see if I have this right. In your comments concerning PCS, you said (basically) parents should listen to the superintendent and Board and adhere to their wishes without question, However, the Board of TCS does not listen to parents to the point that you transferred your child to another system. Your child was in PCS. then TCS, and now in PCS. I am sorry but it sounds like when you disagree with a system, you move! Let this poor child have some stability in her life! She needs to establish roots and a parent that understands this. Do you have a job??

Posted by ms_pre_med (anonymous) on July 1, 2009 at 4:42 a.m. (Suggest removal)

soldier: I dont think it's any of your business if this person has a job or not. How would you feel if someone was questioning your parenting? If the person moves whenever they are against the BoE then fine by it ,that's their business and own free right to do so as they please. And as a matter of fact, the board has no concerns of how a parent or anyone of the matter feels about their decisions. They keep everything hidden and do not tell anyone of their decisions until the day of. The main reason why this school system number in students is declining rapidly as the years go on is because no one(not even the students) can put there trust in them.