Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Re: Do schools need so many holiday breaks? letter, Dec. 4.
When your letter writer questions why Pinellas County schools have such "extended holidays," it makes me wonder whether too many parents are more concerned about schools providing lots of day care instead of a quality education.
The clear trends in public education over the last 10 to 20 years are for longer school years and longer school days accompanied by worse results. Now the latest push is for mandatory pre-kindergarten.
In my opinion, far too many parents are pushing this trend so they can further abdicate their responsibility for child care to the public school system. Maybe if the focus of our public school systems stayed on providing a quality education instead of child care, we would start to see some improvements in the system.
Re: Do schools need so many holiday breaks? letter, Dec. 4.
Yes, school closings, holidays and half-days are necessary. Teachers need time to attend meetings and seminars and plan future lessons. There are many issues such as inventories and book and equipment orders, not to mention safety issues which are addressed when schools are closed to students.
Perhaps the reader who objects should join this century and get out of the one-room schoolhouse that she must have attended. The holiday time off affords students time to spend with relatives, complete projects and research papers, and even get paying jobs. Not everyone is independently wealthy.
Re: Do schools need so many holiday breaks? letter, Dec. 4.
As a parent myself, I personally welcome how the county school district has organized these breaks. These training days are obviously necessary to update and train our teachers so they can better serve our students. It benefits the teachers as well as the families, who then can throughout the year take mini-vacations and spend quality time with their kids and visit family members who are not a mile or two down the road.
Like most, I do not know the real reason behind their decision (to close school for a week at Thanksgiving). But if I were to guess, I would say that for them to combine two teacher training days along with the Thanksgiving break to make it one entire week off for students is beneficial for families and school. Why? Because during the holidays, many children are pulled out of school so that families can leave early to visit out-of-town family or just take a trip. Not everyone can take time off from work during the summer. Teachers probably feel they cannot follow their regular teaching schedule and give tests and homework with so many out.
As a family that enjoys doing things together, we welcome these breaks. We do a lot of camping as a family and having these breaks helps us relax and refresh our minds and bodies. It gives the family more quality time to spend together throughout the year rather than just during the summer. You can say we have the weekends for that, but for the average family, the weekends can get just as busy.
Instead of putting down the school system and teachers, we should be showing our appreciation for their continued dedication to teach our students and to continue their own education to find better ways to teach. They don't get paid enough nor do they get enough recognition for what they do.
I am not a teacher nor do I work for the school system but I can see why these teacher work days are necessary. My guess is the teachers are there from as early as 7 or 8 a.m. and have classes to attend to as late as 2, 3 or 4 p.m. That is a full day. Then they have to grade papers and prepare their lessons, or have meetings with parents, students or faculty. When does anyone expect them to fit in training?
Cut the school district and teachers a break. If the work is getting done and the kids are progressing, I see no reason to change things or complain about it.
I would advise anyone thinking about moving or annexing into Largo not to do it for several reasons.
Poor financial decisions are constantly made. The city puts reclaimed water in the northwest section of Largo but no one signs up for it. The reason: It is cheaper to use tap water than reclaimed water on a small yard. The city lays off employees from the Police Department but continues to have expensive special events. Our quality of life and safety are more important than a one-time event.
The city states that it has not raised taxes for several years but every year my taxes go up due to my property values (rising). No matter how you play on words, taxes have been raised yearly. Then they raise taxes because of their poor spending habits - a new City Hall, a new Police Department, a new command bus, new parks and a new library. The city spends my money very freely. It needs to spend within its budget.
We have money to give away movie tickets to employees who do their jobs. I may be confused but don't we already pay them to do a good job?
Another reason not to annex is the broken promises the city makes. The city made a commitment to the northwest section of Largo, but we have long been forgotten. The city is too busy trying to annex the county to have any concerns with who is already in the city. The northwest section is in desperate need of police patrols and code enforcement.
The city uses trickery and lies to continue to get a larger power base. Annexation is used to gain power and this is easily proved by examining what is being annexed. How come certain neighborhoods are completely surrounded by Largo and they don't come into the city? The answer is simple. The property value is low and they are the lower class economically. In the private sector it is called discrimination.
The solution to bring Largo back on the path is simple. The citizens need good representation. The city should be divided up into six districts. Each district will elect a commissioner. Each area of Largo will have equal representation. In our current situation the commissioners are voted at large and only their neighborhoods are getting attention.
I just hope we wake up before our taxes are raised again and our neighborhoods are out of control. Register to vote and get involved.
One last thing. After years of paying taxes on my business and home, I just want to know where is my free garbage service.
I work in a nursing home. The elderly in nursing homes are the last on everyone's list. Relatives don't want to spend much on gifts for them because they feel they won't be around much longer to enjoy them, or they think they won't even know the difference. Many of them have no living relatives.
All kinds of organizations are out there to get people to donate presents for children in need, but none for the elderly in need. They need presents also. If all of your readers could just donate one sweater or sweat suit, you would touch the hearts of so many elderly people and make them know someone cares.