A cause worth fighting for

I'm not a person who likes controversy. I hate confrontations because I often find myself more emotional than I intend to be. I don't like drama or gossip. I like things simple and stable.

Madelyn's school has been embroiled in name-calling, finger pointing ugliness over the last three weeks. From my perspective, the whole mess is due to a complete and utter failure to communicate. The school is new. This is its first year. It is a charter school so it is structured and governed differently than a typical public school. Trouble is, there is no communication about how to communicate with the different members of the community. Therefore, no one feels like their voice is heard, even the people who are talking. (Sounds a little like a Dr. Seuss book, no?)

This is where I step out of my box. After many frustrating, almost laughable, tense meetings, I didn't see change. My voice was most definitely not heard. I thought that if the parent community banded together perhaps something would change. I wanted to stay positive and be constructive. So, I invited a group of parents to my house and we wrote a petition. We presented it to the community during student drop-off and pick-up. During our three opportunities to get signatures we got support from 60 percent of the households the school serves. We only had four people say they'd rather take a backseat and not sign. The petition is now in the hands of the people it was meant for and the ball is in their court.
These growing pains are not over. Resolution seems distant and certainly not everyone will win, perhaps no one will win. The children have certainly been exposed to intense parent emotions and a change of leadership midyear. They will persevere and I pray that our community will UNITE and strike a balance so that we can get on with pursuing the mission of the school and giving our children the fabulous education they deserve.