MauryTHINKS

I graduated from Central High School in May of 2007 and am now a college student and substitute teacher for Maury County Public Schools.

It is quite obvious to me and probably to most citizens who pay attention that the silly on-and-off-again power struggle between certain members of the county commission who are “willing to go to the mat” and certain members of the school board who like to “threaten lawsuits” on occasion needs to stop. This is especially the case this year since county and state funds are lower than normally expected. It gets out of hand when certain members of both governing bodies begin to force a particular side of an issue just to be more powerful and out-maneuver the other. This is nothing more than an overflow of testosterone in local politics that continues to undermine the quality of education in our county.

A prime example of this would be the battle between which proposed site would be the final destination of the new middle school in Spring Hill. Clearly, the mayor of Spring Hill and the county commission had it right when they said Cleburne Road was not the most suitable site. I would venture to say that some members of the school board voted in favor of Cleburne Road just to overrule the county commission because they ultimately had the final say in the matter and threatened a lawsuit if commissioners didn’t approve it.

This situation comes into fruition frequently because not all, but some members of the county commission have a continuing history of refusing to work with, negotiate, or compromise with any other governing body. This is the reason the school budget process every fall is a soap opera. I firmly believe both governing bodies have the ability to set their egos aside and work coherently with each other. Whether or not this will actually happen is another story.

The better part of this past school year has been spent in controversy over the dress code that will go into effect in August. For some reason, the dress code thing seems to surface every few years or so. In my opinion, this issue serves one purpose only — to distract attention from the more important issues like the scarce amount of textbooks in classrooms, the need for a new Central High School and countless other issues.

Proponents may claim the new dress code is needed because of distractions caused by clothing a few students wear. This may be true, but from my experience in high school, the drug dogs sent to schools sometimes are a heck of a lot more distracting than clothes. Clothes don’t change character.

Another major concern is that in the past several months there have been a few instances when parents of students have been denied the right to speak in front of the school board. This in no shape or form should be tolerated. The taxpayers of Maury County have every right to address the school board.

I think one program that is being used at Central High School should be expanded throughout the county. Central has a program called 4A that helps student athletes who have to spend a great deal of their time on athletics also concentrate on their academics. This program has been very successful. I would like to see this program made available to all student athletes in every middle school and high school in the county.

Another program that has great potential is the Freshman Academy program used at Spring Hill High School. A Freshman Academy program separates all of the freshman students from the rest of students. They are only in classes with freshmen and only go to lunch with freshmen. This puts a major dent in the disciplinary problems because freshmen account for a large portion of them. I would like to see this program implemented in Mt. Pleasant High School and Central High School and improved at Spring Hill High School. I think the student populations of Hampshire, Santa Fe, and Culleoka are too small for this program to have much of an impact.

Cory Brunson,

Columbia,

cwb2t@mtsu.edu