Letter to the Editor for Sunday — November 23, 2003

• ‘Viewpoint’ did not reflect presentation

‘Viewpoint’ did not reflect presentation

Odd that the TGI chose not to report on the CARE task force presentation last week but then printed a lengthy, and prominently displayed, negative Viewpoint from a person who attended but obviously didn’t listen or read the literature passed out in a yellow folder. The panel stressed the problem with our school system was not a person problem but a flaw in the system. They cited the Edmonton Revolution as an example of how things could be turned around.

Mike Strembitsky, who was one of the revolutionaries in the Edmonton system, explained that Edmonton Revolution consisted of “open boundaries, school-based budgeting and alternative programs.” He continued: “The basic premise of the Edmonton Revolution was to flip the power structure upside down. Decision-making was shifted from Central Office to the front lines-the schools and the parents. Instead of the teachers and principals doing the bidding of the administration, the administrators would do the bidding of the teachers and principals.” The Edmonton system is so effective that Seattle, Cincinnati, Houston, New York and British Columbia have all followed suit with great success.

Of course, the presentations were negative when it came to the current system. Otherwise, the panel and past and present legislators of both parties would not have recommended that it be fixed.

One concerned parent, perhaps we are talking about the same person, accusingly asked if this was just a Republican presentation and why it couldn’t be a bipartisan effort. This was quickly shot down by two members of the panel who declared that they were Democrats.

Ada Koene

Koloa