Need for Neighborhood Schools

With all the buzz about private schools, selective ones, charters, and charter clusters, the need for neighborhood public schools is all the more necessary. You need not merely look at the overly competitive selection process that is associated with the above schools to know that neighborhood public schools deserve more attention and support.

Neighborhood public schools, where the students primarily come from the immediate vicinity, are critical to the success of the neighborhood and the students. Often as businesses close or move, it is the local school that becomes the anchor and focus of community events. Often plays, playgrounds, after-school activities, farmer markets and the like are held at the various neighborhood schools. Why not? These are often safe and accessible venues for such activities.

On the educational front, what can be better for kids than high performing neighborhood schools? To me, nothing! Having a child walk a few blocks to school, in a safe manner, beats being transported all around the city. What better way for kids to grow up, and attend school, than doing so with their lifelong buddies in the neighborhood? Want to see more parent involvement with the education of their sons and daughters? Keep it local.

These aren't mundane issues. The above points have critical implications for learning and social development. It is high time we stopped 'tearing down' neighborhood public schools and saw the good in doing everything we can to help them progress.

Dick