August rolls around and suddenly the kids are sullen, Moms and Dads are dancing around the house with huge, silly grins. Why? Return to school!
What is it about school that affects people so differently? During summer months, kids are underfoot (God bless em), Moms and Dads are wracking their brains to keep the little tornados occupied for 18 hours a day. Teachers are in their summer jobs, developing plans for the school year, obtaining supplies, attending conferences, angling for raises and smaller classrooms. It’s a regular three-ring circus.
In the meantime, School administrators are administrating, attending conferences, city meetings, school board functions, all angling for more money, smaller classrooms, redrawing districts. In my area of the country, there have been a handful of administrators going to prison for theft and misappropriation of funds. This leaves me wondering if all the school funds from taxes, state lotteries, government grants aren’t all going into private pockets.
We are talking about billions of alternative funding for schools across these United States. Yet, still, school districts, teachers, extracurricular activities, secondary classes (art, music, reading) are underfunded and cancelled at alarming rates. Just where is all this money going? Not to mention administrators are making hundreds of thousands, if not millions, in compensation for their work.
So, in the meantime, parents save boxtops and soup labels to fund music classes, teachers are having bake sales to buy stickers and construction paper for classwork.
Happy School Year.
Brick ONeil 