Editor

I am writing in response to a letter published in the last issue from an RHMS teacher. She stated " 1,000s of students have moved to this area for the school system. It now appears that a certain group of parents, who moved here for the school system, want to take over control and make a lot of changes and/or keep other changes from happening".

I found these remarks disturbing.

Define a democratic society. What’s a democracy? Everyone gets a chance to voice their opinion. Principles of democracy call for equal representation, meaning all people representing all sides of an issue. Mrs. Odom mentions thousands moving into the system. Longevity does not increase the value of your right to vote or voice your opinion. As soon as a parent has a child in this system they have a voice, these decisions affect their children.

She says that these parents want to "make a lot of changes and/or keep other changes from happening". Well which is it? That about covers everything. Shouldn’t all parents with children in the school system have a voice about either - making a change or maintaining the status quo? And as far as the uniform policy, those against the uniform policy aren’t suggesting any radical changes, they are simply saying that a policy is in place to solve the problems that the administration is voicing - just enforce it.

Is she saying that the county that collects our tax dollars and counts on our contribution and support as parents and volunteers doesn’t want to hear our opinions or want us participating in the decision making process?

This uniform policy has spurred a lot of debate on both sides. Let’s not muddy the issue here by making exaggerated accusations about parents trying to gain control. This is an outlandish statement and has absolutely no basis in fact. The Board of Education is simply hearing from a large number of concerned, involved parents who are making their voices heard. Most of us don’t even know each other - there’s no group trying to gain control of anything.

It’s amazing how perceptive the founding fathers were when establishing our Constitution and the Bill Of Rights many years ago. They set up a system that has proven successful over the years even in today’s modern, mobile society in allowing people to participate in local and national decision making. And it’s a system I firmly believe in.