Janey Munday's Letter To The Editor

A group of concerned citizens has formed. We developed goals and a purpose for the group. The purpose of our meetings is to address the concerns of Iredell's citizens regarding the education of their children and grandchildren. Students, parents, teachers, teacher assistants, and others all have beneficial views and opinions that can be combined to successfully improve our educational program. Our goal is to bring positive change to the Iredell-Statesville Schools through the most constructive measures possible. Anyone with an interest in the education of our children is welcome to participate.

We represent the teachers who are stressed to the max. Who go to work everyday feeling oppressed and beat down. Who feel that no one out there understands how they feel or even cares. Teachers who work in an atmosphere of repression and intimidation. Teachers who have had their creativity and motivation for teaching replaced by testing and data collecting.

We represent the students who enter these schools everyday to feel the tension that fills the buildings. The students who are told that field trips and fun days are gone or very limited because their test scores are not good enough so they need to replace fun with more testing and data discussions.

We represent the parents who feel frustrated at how things are going at their child's school but don't know what to do. One voice is not heard, many voices speaking together are. Join us in lifting our voices up for the children of Iredell County.

The above letter was written by Janey Munday and was printed in Sunday's edition of the Record and Landmark.

Our Job Is Not Over

Just because Dr. Holliday is one of the finalists for a position in Kentucky does not mean we can let our guard down. He might not get the position and if he does, we will have to make sure that the School Board sets up a very public process for finding a new superintendent. One that truly involves all the citizens of Iredell County. Then we will have to start working on changing the membership of the Board. The current Board has allowed Dr. Holliday to rule without any checks or balances.

In a previous post, I suggested that we find some way of identifying the members of our group. In one of the comments someone suggested that we wear red, white, and blue since these are the colors of our flag, and since our mission is to work for freedom for our teachers and children. That sounds like a good idea to me. So, if there are no objections, lets wear the colors. You can wear an armband, a shirt, a scarf, or whatever. Just show some red, white and blue.

Happy 4th of July!

I-SS Citizen's Advisory Committee

Update: Thursday, June 11th

If you have been reading the comments posted on the Record & Landmark web site in relation to the article 'Schools prepare for budget crunch' you know that several individuals are interested in starting a group to address a number of issues regarding the Iredell-Statesville Schools. (The article can still be found on the paper's web site. One way to access the article is to Go to Local at the top, then Statesville and look for the article under June 9. Another way is to use the search feature.) I have now reserved Meeting Room B at the Iredell County Library on Thursday, June 18th, from 7:00 p.m. until 8:45 p.m. They are still checking the availability for Tuesday, June 23rd. Both rooms are already booked on Tuesday but they may be able to move one of the groups downstairs. My thinking is that some people might not be able to attend on one of the two days. Also, we might have a lot to discuss. If you are interested please let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an e-mail (pklaene@gmail.com). Also let me know if you would be willing to help organize the group. Perhaps we could set up some kind of silent partnership for the teachers who would like to support the group, but are afraid of retaliation from the I-SS administration. If you willing to attend a meeting, help organize the group, or if you have any ideas to share, please let me know. I am willing to help organize the group but I don't want my concerns and issues to determine the direction of the group. If this is going to work then it has to be a collaborative effort. We have to work together to help improve the school system so that all students are given a chance to excel.