About 100 people packed the Archer Community Center Thursday night for a Newberry Education First community meeting to learn about the effort to transform Newberry schools into public charter schools.
Under the guidance of community leaders, the Newberry Education First initiative will transform Newberry schools into public charter schools. Parents worked together to plan and hired experts to launch the initiative. Parents and teachers are expected to vote on the switch in April.
If this charter initiative passes, students within Archer city limits will be affected. Archer has its own elementary school, Archer Elementary School, but older students attend Oakview Middle School and Newberry High School in Newberry.
At the meeting, Archer Mayor Iris Bailey greeted the community and Education First Newbury board member Joel Cerby. Ms Bailey did not have a chance to attend the organization's last community meeting, which was held in Newbury on February 23rd.
“I hope this is very helpful to all of us and allows us to move forward and decide which side we're on,” she said.
Deputy Mayor Kathy Penny attends the first community meeting hosted by Education First for Newbury and urges the audience to pay attention to all the details so they can make an informed vote in April. Ta.
“I don't have any children, but I have nieces and nephews who attend Archer, and I want to know how this will affect them,” Penny said. “So we all have fish in this pond.”
Mr. Thurby then began his presentation with a speech about how special Archer City is to him.
“All three of my children attended Archer Elementary School. My address is Archer,” he said. “I shop at Save-A-Lot and my kids get books at Archer Library.”
Mr. Thurby presented slides posted on the Yes Newbery website and explained the problems the public charter hopes to fix.
We also understand the criticism from parents regarding the plan for the meeting, which appears to have been held in secret. But the board believed it would be “unwise” and “unfair” to propose “drastic changes” without proper research.
“We decided to gather all the information before submitting the request,” Sarby said. “And now we have his 60-day grace period to help everyone get their education.”
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At the meeting, Mr Surby announced that the board wanted to introduce an advisory committee where parents could share their concerns. The board is proposing two seats for the city of Archer, five seats for the city of Newberry, and two seats for families outside the boundaries of both cities. Advisory board members are nominated by the community.
“This is in response to the concerns we've heard,” he said.
After the presentation, concerned parents gathered on stage to ask questions and share their concerns with Mr. Sarby.
Paul Dominguez, a parent of a student at Archer Elementary School and a student at Oakview Middle School, shared his concerns for rural families and how more parents can get involved in this effort.
“Three board members make decisions, but these advisory committees can only give advice. At the end of the day, these three are the ones who choose what happens to our children. ” he said.
Holly Blumenthal, a parent of a child attending Newberry High School, wondered who would negotiate employment contracts and other school materials. And she said she felt the meetings were being conducted in secret.
“It's disingenuous to say, 'I had to do it this way because state law triggers voting,'” she says. “She may have come with a plan.”
Melonie Stanton, a parent whose children attend Archer Elementary School and Oakview Middle School, is concerned that her neighborhood along Archer Road will be included in the plan.
The current plan states that all students assigned to Oakview Middle School and Newberry High School will be automatically allowed to attend the charter. However, the plan also calls for expanding the initiative's “zone” to six to nine miles outside the planned area until schools reach capacity.
“We're trying to figure out exactly which Archer kids are included and which Archer kids aren't. Because unless there's more geographic coverage, kids in the neighborhood aren't included. Because I know I won't be able to do it,” Stanton said.
Contact Megan Howard. mhoward@alligator.org. X Follow her at @meganmhxward.
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Megan Howard is a sophomore journalism major and K-12 education reporter for The Alligator. When she's not writing, you can find her rewatching the movie Elas Her Tour or reading the Hunger Games series.