School Board Needs To Re-evaluate Gifted Program

One hundred eighty-eight: That number is less than half of the number of "gifted" students we have in Hernando County. That is the number who signed up for the new gifted center at Explorer K-8. The first question that comes to mind is: What happens to the rest of the gifted students? Are they now left without the proper classes and education that is geared for them?

Another question begs to be asked. What happens to the money that is allotted to our school system based upon the number of gifted students we have? Is it now cut in half? That would be a loss of almost $500,000. It may be my lack of understanding on how things work in this county, but I am concerned that we just given up a ton of money to quickly expedite a gifted center rather than transition one in.

Could we not have operated for a short period of time with gifted classes in all of the schools with the understanding that within a two- to five-year period, all gifted students would be taught at a centralized location? In addition, another question comes to mind. How are we going to afford to bus all the students from all over Hernando County to a location on the west side of the county with the cost of gas constantly on the rise? Would it not make more sense to utilize the bussing system that already does this for the magnet schools? That, in turn, brings to mind another question. Why not use the current magnet schools as a starting location for gifted programs - one for the arts and one for math and science. All gifted students are not gifted equally.

I will give the school board the benefit of the doubt and accept the fact that maybe I missed the meetings, the workshops or the newspaper reports that explained the reason behind these decisions. But, at least in hindsight, it becomes apparent that maybe this gifted center was not properly thought out. It would appear that there was a rush to complete the plan and ignore whatever consequences may come. Before we get to the point of no return, maybe we should evaluate why less than half of the students are signing up for new center. If this center is haphazardly put together with little thought for the students, it will take a long time for it to function properly if it does not fail in the process. Let's not forget the main reason for programs like this - to benefit the students.

As of right now, we have neglected more than half of the gifted ones.

Robert Neuhausen

Spring Hill