Editor

This is an open letter to the Bryan County Board of Education, and Bryan County citizens:

I’m no politician; in fact I don’t care much at all for politics, but something is so wrong in this Bryan County school system.

It is imperative that parents maintain the decision about how to dress their children who attend public schools, of course in keeping with the current Bryan County dress code guidelines. This includes parents who do want uniforms being able to dress their kids in uniforms.

BoE members have been told by numerous people in this community: it is extremely frustrating to feel as though basic United States citizens’ rights are being squashed by the Bryan County BoE.

Telling parents we have to purchase certain color pants and shirts and make our children wear them in order to attend the public schools in this county is an infringement upon our rights.

I personally feel the big problem in the Bryan County school system goes much deeper than uniform issues, however. It is a much more pervasive feeling that the BoE wants to tell parents what is best for our kids. I think we can all agree that parents and school officials want the best for our kids.

I’d like to suggest that the public school system just needs to provide an appropriate education for the kids and let us parents handle the rest – we’ll make our kids follow the rules, and we’ll ask for your help and advice if we need it!

I have to question Dr. Brewer’s persistence in being so militaristic and dictatorial on controversial issues rather than encouraging debate. The tax-paying citizens of Bryan County pay her salary.

It’s time for her to be our voice rather than continuing to secretly implement her own agendas.

Dr. Brewer is not improving this school system, nor is she making Bryan County schools look their best – just read public opinion in Bryan, Chatham, and Effingham counties about many of her recent decisions and actions, most of which blatantly go against the very people she is supposedly representing.

She is constraining this school system and is encouraging the Board members to conform to her viewpoint without any apparent regard for community opinion.

It was so refreshing to see over half the Board vote to table the uniform discussion – they listened and responded appropriately to citizens’ pertinent input.

Then, it was extremely disheartening to read the other Board members basically saying the Board will still push whatever decision they want through; it’s all just a matter of when that can be accomplished without too many citizens realizing it’s happening under our noses.

We have some of the brightest, most talented students in Georgia in our midst, yet they are being used to make Bryan County’s "numbers" look good while being stifled and denied opportunities to excel and shine even further – unless of course they drive themselves, insure themselves, pay for themselves, and don’t take any school-owned equipment or buses out of state!

Richmond Hill continues growing by leaps and bounds. What will it take to get our school system out of this backwoods mentality in which it’s trapped? A new superintendent?

It actually looks hopeful that over half the BoE seems to be headed in the right direction...hang in there, guys! You have a lot of people behind you!