Letters To The Editor

Enlightening meeting

Thursday night, I attended the special school board meeting concerning the moving of the Quest Academy to ease the overcrowding at Explorer K-8.

The meeting was very enlightening as pros and cons were discussed regarding each of the limited options presented.

In the end, the board voted to move the program to Challenger K-8 and explore the option to create a "school within a school" complete with its own administration.

What does this mean for the children at the Quest Academy? According to interim Superintendent Sonya Jackson, the Quest Academy would have its own administration, its own school number and the children at the Quest Academy would not be able to participate in any Challenger activities.

Challenger Principal Sue Stoops, when you generously offered to house the Quest Academy, were you aware of the board's intent to explore the school within a school option?

Where were the parents of Challenger students and prospective students?

Didn't you want to know how this move will affect your children?

Did you know the move will create nine double classrooms at Challenger?

Did you know that Challenger will have to decrease the number of students admitted into the general education program?

Ms. Stoops, would you have offered the Challenger campus had you known the underlying goal was to create a school within a school, thus sacrificing space for your current and future student body to house the Quest Academy with absolutely no control over it?

What happens three, five or 10 years from now if the Quest Academy continues to grow and flourish?

Will the parents and the staff of Challenger continue to allow the Quest Academy to take up more space on your campus if it is considered its own entity?

If the Quest Academy has to move, then I agree Challenger is the best option. However, as a parent of two gifted children in the program, I want them to be able to be part of the Challenger community and participate in extracurricular activities at the school. Education of my children needs to be well rounded and include the opportunity to participate in clubs or sports should they wish.

Kelley Kordon

Spring Hill

Rall-free month

I read Ted Rall's latest socialist dribble in the paper this morning. I see this as a good thing since the editor recently assured us that Ted would not appear in the paper more than a couple times a month.

He was allowed to spread his twisted socialist dribble three times this last week, Dec. 5, 8 and 11. I believe the editor would not lie to us so I expect the holiday season will go by and until sometime in mid-January we will be spared the cream curdling effect comrade Ted has on my coffee latte.

Thank you in advance for the next Ted-free month.

Guy Peeters

Brooksville

Editor's note: I did say "average about twice a month."

Where's the vision?

I personally don't see how moving 250 gifted students to Challenger is going to change anything. The school board is apparently incapable of looking past the here and now.

Why is it such a problem to just rezone? It's going to have to be done anyway once the new K-8 is built and opened. Plus, there's going to be some $175,000 spent on moving them there, when you could put that money into something that will have a more lasting effect, such as extending the third floor of Explorer to accommodate the gifted students seeing as Explorer was built for the gifted program to be located there.

But that's right, the school board is capable of giving a pothead his job back, giving students the impression that "Hey, he can get away with it, so can I." Good job!

Now you've even fueled the Challenger elite's ego! Congratulations! I never thought someone could screw up as bad as former superintendent Wayne Alexander did.

Lacy Jordan

Brooksville