YOUR OPINION: District 4 School Board

By  //  July 19, 2012

OPINION

While it is quite apparent that Keri Lewis has put much time and effort doing her homework to put the crosshairs on Karen Henderson’s District 4 School Board seat, it occurs to me that her time would have been better spent visiting some of the Brevard County schools.

Anyone who believes a “back to basics” approach to education should include “less emphasis on technology” is clearly out of touch with the needs of our children and indeed, is a threat to the quality of education that Brevard County Schools works to maintain.

The fact is, while our schools have done an admirable job trying to keep up with the technological needs of children who were born into a technologically complex world, many schools are quickly falling behind as funding becomes increasingly scarce.

While many school districts have adopted a 1:1 student to computer policy, our schools still have classrooms with less than a handful of working machines. Students are then shuttled to a dedicated “computer room,” where on unfamiliar machines, they get strictly limited time to improve their skills.

Teachers have been hobbled by inadequate bandwidth while preparing report cards or weekly grade reports, sometimes losing volumes of information when their internet connection-fails as result of the districts’ server’s inability to process the volume of traffic.

Many would agree that we are nearing, if not indeed at the bottom of the well, with regard to Brevard County educational funding, and it scares me to think what the future would hold for our children were we to collectively refuse to financially support them to a level commensurate with the level of achievement they honor us with each year.

Ms. Lewis’ rhetoric smacks of radical Tea Party conservatism, and, it appears, for good reason. With Brevard County Tea Party leader Matt Nye for her biggest supporter I can only assume that Keri Lewis intends to function as the mouthpiece for those who would deny our children the best that American education has to offer.

– John P. Chybion
   Palm Bay, Florida

1 Comment

  1. Good point of view. Ms. Lewis did not do so well in her debate with Mrs. Henderson a couple of weeks ago on a local radio show. Ms. Lewis did not answer 3 of the 4 questions that Mrs. Henderson asked her. While Mrs. Henderson answered all of Ms. Lewis questions on point. Ms. Lewis seem to be confused, frustrated, and unprepared. While Mrs. Henderson was the opposite. I personally know that I want to work with a school member who is educated and prepared about her position, even though we might not see eye to eye on issues. This is a lot easier to work with this person, then someone who seems not to understand the educational and financial issues impacting our Brevard County School System.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*