WHEN I'M BIGGER, I WANT TO CHOOSE MY OWN SCHOOL
PLEASE HELP ME TAKE BACK THE SENATE!
Posted on 10/04/2002 6:11:47 AM PDT by The G Man
Chicopee News
Chicopee votes for School Choice
The expected loss of some $350,000 helped to inspire the reversal of a long-standing tradition.
10/04/2002By JEANETTE DeFORGE
Staff writer
CHICOPEE - To raise revenue and turn some students into honest citizens, the School Committee has reversed a long-standing decision to reject School Choice.
In the past, the School Committee annually voted against allowing students from other communities to attend city schools, which is allowed under the School Choice law. On the advice of administrators, committee members said their schools are just too crowded to accept more children.
But the law allows any local child to leave the city - and many have - mostly to head to schools in South Hadley and Granby.
Every time a student leaves, the about $5,500 per-pupil allotment the state gives each community goes to the accepting school rather than the district where the student lives.
The number of Chicopee children who are leaving has more than doubled since School Choice was created five years ago. This year the city schools are expected to lose about $350,000 to other communities through School Choice, said Superintendent Basan N. Nembirkow.
"I personally think this is a serious problem," said Mary-Elizabeth Pniak-Costello, a School Committee member. "It is a lot of money, it is increasing at an astronomical rate."
Nembirkow asked the School Committee to rescind its most recent vote and instead vote to accept a limited number of students through School Choice retroactive to the first day of school on Aug. 27.
Under the law, communities can limit the number of children who are accepted to the schools. It can also specify the grade-level of students it will accept and which schools they can attend.
"We have 15 to 20 students who live in other communities who are falsifying their addresses," Nembirkow said.
With School Choice accepted, those students can confess to their real addresses and remain in Chicopee schools. The city can then bill the sending community for the money to educate the children, Nembirkow said.
Next spring Nembirkow said he will release a recommendation of how many students of each grade level should be accepted to the city under School Choice.
The committee voted 11-1 Wednesday to rescind its earlier vote and 12-0 to adopt School Choice.
Member Chester J. Szetela said he was concerned about changing the rule to allow children who have lied about their addresses while others who honestly inquired about having their children attend city schools were turned away.
Nembirkow said he agreed it was unfair to some people, but said he was trying to help the system recoup some funding. Jeanette DeForge can be reached at jdeforge@union-news.com
About a half dozen parents pulled their kids out. My wife went through all the proper channels to file a complaint (school board, superintendant, Mayor) but as you can imagine .. they protect their own, so nothing came of it. And typical of the government they PROMOTED her to PRINCIPAL at another school!!! I understand that they recently sent her packing, allegedly due to some (ahem) financial irregularities. Couldnt happen to a worse person, this side of Al Qaeda that is.
PLEASE HELP ME TAKE BACK THE SENATE!
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