To the editor:

As another school year comes to an end, I can't help but wonder why our school board is still insisting on opening Scotland High more than 2 weeks earlier than every other school in the county. I know the reason was given to me by Larry Johnson that they needed to be on the same schedule as Richmond Community College. That means they are willing to turn families inside out to serve the 110 students that attend the early college program at RCC. Let's think about a few things now. First how much is it going to cost our school system to run the buses an extra 2 weeks? How much extra is it going to cost in food, utilities, and pay etc... for this time? Here is the BIG ONE how much is it going to cost the parents who have children in several diffrent schools for daycare? This is providing they can get daycare for their children. I don't know of any daycare providers that take middle school children, do you? Would you leave a 6th, 7th, or 8th grade child at home to take care of one or more elementary school children? Parents can't afford $100.00 a week or more for a child in daycare and if you have more than one child then is gets worse. Then you have the what if factor when you have children left alone, I know someone will say we leave children alone all the time, while this maybe true why add extra time into the mix? Why take anymore of a chance something might happen. This is just my personal opinion but I think at least some of the parents of the 110 early college students had friends on the board and this measure was pushed through for them. I'll end now by asking this question outright. What makes this 110 so great that the board is willing to disrupt several thousand peoples lives just for them? If someone can tell us then we will all know. Remember the next school board elections are held in 2010.

Charles Walters

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