I am writing because I am perhaps the only parent in the district with children at both Del Mar Hills and Del Mar Heights this year. In addition, I am the incoming PTA president for 2008-09 at Del Mar Hills. My oldest two children (4th and 6th grade) have attended Del Mar Hills for a number of years, and my husband and I have been enormously pleased with the program there. My children have both had exceptional teachers at each grade level, and we have been quite impressed with the amount of art, music, science, and technology that is truly infused within the more traditional “3 Rs” curriculum at the Hills. The school is an idyllic place in which to educate one’s children.
However, special circumstances led us to place our youngest daughter in kindergarten at Del Mar Heights this year. Since she is a child with a late September birthday, we thought she would benefit from two years of kindergarten, and we felt a year at each school would ensure that each of her kindergarten years was unique. Thus, we placed her at the Heights in the current year, and intended to move her to the Hills this coming year, where she could be with her brother. However, when the Spanish Discovery program was announced, we felt such an enrichment program would be very good for her in her second year of kindergarten, and thus made the decision to put her name in the kindergarten Spanish lottery. Our lottery number does not ensure that she will be enrolled in the Spanish Discovery program; thus, we may choose to send her to the Hills for a second year of kindergarten, as originally planned. However, we need time to make this decision, and refuse to allow current district politics to influence our decision…and the life of our 5-year-old.
I feel compelled to speak in this atmosphere of anger and mistrust, because I feel I truly have a more balanced perspective than most other interested parties. I applaud Wendy Wardlow’s initiative and tenacity in developing a Spanish language program at Del Mar Heights. She is a terrific leader of another truly exceptional institution. Obviously, as a parent with my child’s name in the lottery, I hope that the program will succeed. However, as an involved Hills parent, I am sympathetic to the case made by parents at all schools other than the Heights.
The Spanish program and the future of the ESC allocations in the district are inextricably tied, so I do not see how the school board in good conscience can plan to reduce enrichment staffing allocations at all eight schools, while simultaneously instituting a new “enrichment” foreign language program at one school, particularly when it will serve only 20 to 40 new children each year from the schools east of the freeway.
Yes, I agree that foreign language is long overdue in the district and that it would benefit all who are exposed to it tremendously. However, the fact remains that we have a $1.5 million dollar deficit in the district’s general fund, and the board still has not disclosed the total financial impact of the Spanish Discovery program. Therefore, it seems to me that we have to consider the implementation of the Spanish Discovery program within the larger context of a five-year budgetary plan for the district as a whole. As a former consultant for the U.S. Department of Education and the national Head Start program, it makes my heart bleed that we have to make these terrible choices, but that is what our state…and nation’s…voters have done over many years to our public educational system.
I say this even though I recognize that if the Spanish Discovery program at the Heights is not implemented, my own daughter will not reap its benefits. I am that concerned about the fairness of the program’s implementation. I am also extremely concerned that if the program is not implemented fairly, the current atmosphere of mistrust and anger within the district will continue and may approach a critical juncture that effectively paralyzes the board’s ability to move forward in any direction. To my mind, we have yet to see any actions by the board that move the school district forward in the almost two years current board members have been in office. Reasonable minds can disagree about whether removing Tom Bishop at a cost of $300,000 or providing tepid support for the Del Mar Schools Educational Foundation were appropriate decisions. I think at this point that we need to stop arguing about those issues! However, moving forward, we need to see actions by the board that unquestionably improve the district in the minds of the majority of its constituents. With a board comprised of four out of five current or former Del Mar Heights parents, this board must work extra hard to dispel charges of favoritism and bias. I hope they will have the wisdom to deal with the Spanish Discovery issue effectively at next Wednesday’s school board meeting – for it seems to be a lightning rod for so much political controversy and community animosity that need desperately to be avoided at this point.
Kerry Traylor
Del Mar Hills and Heights parent
2008-09 Del Mar Hills PTA president
|