Wednesday, April 9, 2003

The Citizen publishes informative and timely reports in its online edition on its website, www.thecitizennews.com, and I wish to comment on one of them.

Early last week, there was a report on a recent meeting of the Fayette Board of Education. The report explained that the plans for expanding McIntosh High School were not yet ready, that the funding expected from the state was still in some doubt, and that unless the funding was guaranteed by April 14 the project would have to be delayed a full year.

The report further went on to explain that both the plans and the funding for the Sandy Creek High School auditorium were in place and that that project was essentially ready to go.

Then the report continued thus: [Board members] Marion Key and Greg Powers "insisted though, that it wouldn't be right to proceed with the Sandy Creek auditorium when the board 'promised' the McIntosh community it would be next on the list of priorities." Apparently, the whole board agreed with that.

I don't agree with that, and I believe that anyone who has his heart in the right place and his head screwed on right wouldn't agree either.

What the board essentially decided to do was to punish the Sandy Creek students by delaying the construction of their long overdue auditorium by one year for the sake of politics.

The board members have the money. They have the plans. They are ready to go. But instead of loving children, they love politics. Hundreds of children will be deprived of the use of an auditorium for one full year because of the insensitivity of our school board.

I doubt there is a single person who is member of that so-called McIntosh community who wishes to visit unnecessary delay or hardship on the Sandy Creek students. The McIntosh people can understand the situation.

The alleged "promise" of the board is bogus. In its discussion the board referred to old SPLOST promises when a thoroughly discredited and repudiated board was making poor decisions and trying to bribe every school with some project. That promise is neither legally nor morally binding. Citizens with their heart in the right place can understand that readily.

What troubles me the most in all of this is that the school superintendent is not leading the board by showing them the error of their way. He should be an advocate and champion for the students. If he would only steer the board in the right direction, the board might avoid making dumb mistakes like this.

Let me explain, by the way, that I have no children or relatives in the Fayette school system. I come to the defense of the Sandy Creek students because they, like all our students in Fayette County, deserve better from the adults who control their fate.

I am thoroughly ashamed of a school board who would reason the way it was reported in The Citizen. I have said it before, and I'll say it again: we need to elect to our school board people who love children, not people who love politics.

If it's allowed to stand, the decision to let our Sandy Creek students twist in the wind one more year will be a reflection of the moral bankruptcy of our school board.

Claude Y. Paquin

Fayetteville

cypaquin@msn.com