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Today's Letters: School suspensions can be useful

Letters to the Editor
Published November 8, 2007

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A school policy that should be suspended Nov. 2, editorial

School suspensions can be useful

Your editorial made valid points, but also included some misconceptions about the use of "suspension pending conference" in the Hillsborough County public schools. You wrote that "the decision to suspend should not be made lightly." I couldn't agree more. Our principals are loath to send students home, and suspensions should be used only when other alternatives fail.

You also wrote that this form of suspension is unnecessary because "the phone and the mail still work." In most cases, that's true. However, the sad truth is that sometimes parents do not respond to educators' requests for parent conferences. Often phone calls are not returned and letters are ignored. In those cases, principals need tools to get parents' attention and cooperation. Our experience is that in most cases when these suspensions are used parents respond immediately, and both the student and the principal benefit from the parents' involvement.

Our school principals work hard to keep students in school and they never miss an opportunity to get parents involved in their children's education. Rather than doing away with the practice altogether, as you suggested, it is my goal to ensure that this tool is being used appropriately and is having the desired result: bringing educators and parents together to find solutions to support student success.

MaryEllen Elia, superintendent, Hillsborough County Public Schools, Tampa

Back to basics on schools Nov. 3, commentary by Liam Julian

Aim to educate

Three cheers for Liam Julian. This article needs to be pasted on the laptop of every Pinellas County School Board member as a reminder of what their job is. As he puts it, it is to increase the academic achievement of their youthful charges.

Their job is not to arrange busing schedules, teach to pass the FCAT, or cure integration problems. It is to educate students and prepare them to function in society as adults.

Students need to learn the basics: reading, writing and arithmetic. If all students are well educated, the socialization and integration will follow. It cannot be forced by busing or any other means.

School Board members should stop bickering about social issues and politics and do what they were elected to do: Use their resources to educate the students of Pinellas County to the highest level possible. Let Liam Julian be your guide.

Sylvia Fies, St. Petersburg

Back to basics on schools Nov. 3, commentary by Liam Julian

More neighborhood seats

After pondering Liam Julian's view of getting kids to school quickly and "then teach them like mad," it made me, once again, reflect on the difficulty of teaching, and what is fair in the placement of students in our schools.

The Pinellas School Board has made it clear that all families will be able to apply for magnet and fundamental schools (great!), but, of all those magnet and fundamental schools, only two magnets would hold seats open for neighborhood kids. The argument is that those certain schools with 100 percent application status have programs too specialized for the average kid (magnets) or too academic (fundamentals). Hmmm ...

Fair would be all magnet and all fundamental schools holding seats open for neighborhood kids. If the 100 percent schools are as good as they say they are, those "tough to teach" kids would only benefit.

Beth Lindenberg, St. Petersburg

Try a 12-month schedule

It's time for the school districts to operate year-round. Taxpayers can no longer keep being financially abused with higher taxes when these facilities stand empty for nearly three months out of 12. This is ridiculous.

More students could graduate sooner and more could get their education in less time. Like most of us, teachers will work 12 months a year, not nine, and will still have every weekend and every other paid holiday off! That alone would save millions of dollars. A bit of common sense and courage is all they need to do what's best for the poor taxpayer!

Ronald G. Payne, Safety Harbor

Night of fright, indeed Nov. 5.

Deeper depravity due

Susan Estrich laments that the "sex sickos" on Halloween were a shock and a disappointment. I couldn't agree more.

Has anyone ever heard the word "entropy?" I'm no scientist, but the basic idea, as it applies to most anything in our "enlightened" 21st century culture, is this: Unless we're pumping something good, wholesome, timeless and beyond us into the culture, into our kids, etc., it's all going to be running downhill into what the religious folks would call "total depravity." If you're shocked now, stay tuned.

J. McNeil, Pinellas Park

Exercising creatively

I want to commend Katherine Snow Smith for writing the positive articles Exercises in learning and A healthy challenge for schools (Nov. 6).

I am on the Governor's Council for Physical Fitness, and we have been developing a state plan of action to increase physical fitness through regular exercise and sound nutrition practices among Floridians of all ages and to reduce the rate of obesity and resulting diseases in Floridians in the next 10 years. It is so refreshing to see the creative ways teachers are promoting healthy bodies and minds.

Julie Ryczek, Treasure Island

[Last modified November 7, 2007, 22:40:56]