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Monday, October 1, 2007

High School League and Other Issues

More reasons to get angry
First, let me thank Sports Editor Gary McCann for his Sunday column outlining the incredibly ridiculous decision by the South Carolina High School League. Moving Rock Hill High School and South Pointe High School to Region 4-AAAA and forcing them to play games in Richland County rather than in their own county is wrong on several levels.

Mr. McCann listed several negative effects this decision is going to have on budgets, students, parents and classwork due to the extended travel distance for every athletic event. I have a few more. What about the dangers for high school students who drive to games to support their classmates? What about the pep bands, dance teams, cheerleaders and alumni supporters who will also have to travel further? Mr. McCann is right. The only thing he failed to mention is how to get your opinion heard. The SC High School League can be contacted by calling (803) 798-0120 or at schsl@schcl.org

Get angry! Do it for your kids!
While you are at it, how about contacting a few of your state legislators about a few issues. Several of them voted yes to swapping property tax for a 1-cent sales tax. Did you know that South Carolina saw a recession in May and June of this year? How do you think that is going to affect the programs our schools offer in the future?

Take a look at who is in favor of school vouchers. Ask them how a school voucher is really going to help low-income families be able to attend a $7,000-a-year private school. When you have him on the phone, mention the child may need a ride and a packed lunch. See if they might be able to help in that regard, too.

Don't hang up! I have a couple more people you may want to contact about starting school after the third Monday in August. I know we all got a longer summer this year, but guess what? The state still mandates that South Carolina schoolchildren attend school for 180 days. That longer summer was a one-shot deal. I hope you enjoyed it. It is too bad our PACT testing dates will not be any later during the school year, and our high school students have to spend their holiday vacation studying for first semester exams.

You are right, Mr. McCann, get angry, and do it for all our children!
Mikki Rentschler
Rock Hill

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Don’t you have a bigger issue like education??? Why worry about who plays whom in football games? Also if you are concerned about the additional costs , why did you vote to spend the “surplus funds” (taxpayers’ dollars that are supposed to fund education) on nonsense like artificial turf and a big updated score board?? Even when the public spoke out saying no to new turf, you decided that your viewpoint was better than the community’s viewpoint. Do you vote just how you feel and not consider the voice of the people? Even Jason Silverman had a change of heart when so many disagreed with his support of the new turf. And if you really were worried about the budget, then question the spending habits at the school district. If you understand budgets and look at expenditures then you will be in for some big surprises. You might also want to ask why there was a onetime surplus, and since the district had such surplus in the previous year why they asked for such large increase this year. I assume that you only get brief summaries with very few details or else you would have a hard time approving some of the things that you approved.

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