Double-Talk on Abingdon Schools?
I want to first say that I have never written a letter to a newspaper before. However, I felt the need to do so after attending a meeting for parents of children who are about to attend the Edgewood middle and high schools.
My children are fourth and fifth graders and attend a school in the Abingdon area.
I was led to believe that the "new" middle school would be mentioned extensively at the meeting. Unfortunately, it took two hours for them to even suggest that there might be a new middle school.
BTC The new school, they said, will "probably" be completed in 1999. I was aghast. I talked to a representative of the school system less than a year ago and I was told it was to be completed in or 1997 at the latest. I am interested in knowing exactly what the school system is doing with all the new tax dollars that have been generated in the past five years due to housing construction.
Both the principals of the middle and high schools were enthusiastic, but they kept saying the "Edgewood/Abingdon" area. They are mistaken; it is the "Bel Air/Abingdon" area.
All my children's activities are in Bel Air or in Abingdon. All their friends are in this area. I find it inexcusable that they will be torn from their "home" community to be placed in an unfamiliar one.
My daughter was in tears when I told her that she would be going to Edgewood next year. All her friends are going to Bel Air Middle School. Our neighbor's children who are sixth-graders are having a hard time adjusting to the middle school transition. They say they have no contact with a majority of their classmates after school, and they are singled out for criticism because they don't live in the immediate area. They hate going to Edgewood.
Though it is obvious that the school board is not overly worried about this, another problem is student-to-teacher ratio. The principal at Edgewood said they are at "capacity," though not overcrowded.
However, by the time my kids get to Edgewood, the principal estimates there will be 1,100 students. If they break it down to around 180 kids per "team," that is two teams for each grade level, that would be about 36 kids per class teacher. (We all know it will be more.)
After discussing this possibility with teachers in the area, they have said that no matter how they arrange the kids, having more than 28 is a handful. (This does not touch on the fact that both schools have high suspension rates, and that the high school has only 58 percent going on to college while other schools have as much as 76 percent doing so.)
As a parent, I know that some kids are going to be lost in the shuffle. Is it going to be my kids or yours?
I need your help. Parents in the Abingdon area, we are in a school system that spends less money than the surrounding counties on education. Though Harford County does get results, the main reason is that they have dedicated teachers.
However, we need to find out how to put the pressure on. Call the board, write to the newspapers. It's time to demand a better future for our children.
The majority of the schools in our area are overcrowded. Drive past your area schools. Do you see those little trailers in the back? If you do, that means the school is overcrowded. Only we can make a difference.
Just a few minutes of your time calling the Board of Education could mean a lifetime of difference to your child's education and future.
Meghan Michaels
Abingdon
Gun Education
Two of today's headlines in The Sun (Dec. 20) need some critical comments.
"Bomb Racks New York Subway."
"Park Heights Boy Charged in Slaying of Friend, 10."
The first headline clearly re-emphasizes that the committing of a violent crime does not require the use of a firearm. Again, it points out the inescapable fact that it is the criminal, not the weapon, that must be controlled. . . .
Headline No. 2 points out a number of unsupportable positions -- of the parents and our school system. That the parents were remiss in not taking appropriate action when the "We found a gun" issue was mentioned by the youngsters is an obvious and fatal omission.
What you probably don't know is that there is a readily available educational program designed particularly to educate any youngster in "What to do if they find a gun." And who can say with any certainty that any child will not come across a gun sometime?
This program is called "Eddie Eagle," and comes in a VHS format and has been offered by the National Rifle Association for many, many years. Of course, the NRA is assumed by some to be a force of evil and, as such, is not acceptable as a means of protective education -- regardless of cost in human life.
Had such a program been developed and offered by Sarah Brady and her friends, it would have been vigorously supported by the media and our so-called legislative representatives.
But, no way, Jose -- effective education is not on their agenda.
The anti-gun liberals would rather sacrifice an innocent child than admit and overcome their prejudices. They will take refuge behind another useless law, even though both bombs and sawed-off shotguns are already illegal.
, When will they get it right?
Fred C. Lange
White Hall