Mother rips school closing…
My daughter attends Dunbar Borough Elementary School. She is in 4th grade, age 9. We are presently fighting for our students’ rights to a have a good education. Our school board has decided to close several elementary buildings and have grade reconfigurations.
The grade reconfiguration would be K-4 at elementary level, middle school would be 5-8 and high school would be 9-12 with the vo-tech students totally segregated from the rest of the high school. The “mountain” schools would remain unchanged.
I’m sure that you’ve heard all of this before, but I’d like for you to hear it again.
The feasibility study that is their primary source of reference is incorrect on many topics. The biggest problem with the study is that somewhere in the “existing students” to “proposed students” they lost approximately 475 students. They totally vanished.
Of course the numbers are going to work when you misplace that many students.
There are so many questions that the board can’t answer. Ed Zadylak, school board member, came and spoke at our PTO meeting.
He told approximately 70 parents the following things:
1. Middle schools with grades 5-8 don’t work.
2. I can’t guarantee you that your child will receive the same quality education at a different school then he/she is getting now. But that’s not my concern. That is the job of Mr. Duncan.
3. I can’t guarantee you that your child will be safe. That’s not my responsibility. That’s Mr. Lembo’s job.
4. It’s (his plan) 70 percent economics and 30 percent education.
5. It’s all about the numbers.
6. There is no reason why your school should be closed because it’s a good school. Highest PSSA test scores in elementary/great attendance/no remodeling needed. All current facilities.
In my opinion, an elected school board member’s first priority should be that every student receives the best education available to him/her.
His main goal is money, which every parent understands.
Yes, the CASD school board has had some very financially unsound decisions. This decision goes beyond money, but they don’t seem to care.
They school board seems to be treating our greatest assets, our children, the future, as numbers on a piece of paper that you can bump here or bump there to help remedy mistakes from boards present and past.
There are so many things that I haven’t mentioned here. It would several pages to summarize it all.
The reason why I wrote this letter in the first place is because of the letter that my daughter wrote in hopes that she could help to save her school. She would like you to ask all CASD parents to attend tonight’s school board meeting at 7 p.m. to show support in favor of keeping the schools open.
She wrote this letter by herself. I’m extremely proud of her. She attended the PTO Meeting with me. She heard Mr. Zadylak herself and proceeded to ask him a question also.
I want her to know that even though she’s 9, her voice will still be heard even if it falls on deaf ears.
Please read the following letter and consider her plea.
Thank you for your time.
Wendy L. DeOre
Dunbar
…So does fourth-grade daughter
The Connellsville School District wants to close down my school. I go to school at Dunbar Borough Elementary School. I am a fourth grader there. I think our school is the best school ever. Our school has 200 and some kids. Sure, it’s kind of small, but, our school is the best.
It is the second newest in the Connellsville Area School District and the third newest in Fayette County. Our school has smart kids too. We have smaller classes so, teachers can explain things better. We have the best teachers in the whole wide world. This school means a lot to me and I want it to stay open for a long time. It is like our home.
The school board wants to close a couple of elementary schools. They plan to have kindergarten through fourth grade for grade school. And fifth through eighth grade in middle school. I will be 10 on Aug. 2. I would be going to Junior High West. I don’t want to go to Junior High West. It is really big. Especially to someone as small as me. I would be going on the bus with seniors because where I live, junior high and high school students ride the same bus. My mom is concerned about that.
The only thing we would get out of them closing our school is hmmm, let me think, nothing.
They want to close our school because they don’t have enough money to keep our “little schools” open. The reason they don’t have enough money is because some person along the way misused the money, and now us, kids have to suffer for their mistake. And they can’t guarantee us that we will have the same amount of education or better education.
Also, they also can’t guarantee us that we will be safe either. No other schools have done this and been successful with it.
All of them are undoing it. Kids and parents are trying to do something about it. The school board meeting is on tonight at 7. at the Connellsville High School Cafeteria.
This change affects all of us kids and everyone else also. You really need to attend. It depends on our future; we the kids really need your help to keep our schools open.
Katie DeOre
Dunbar