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Public has mixed views on early start times, LISD asked to include Bible curriculum
By Chris Roark, roarkc@acnpapers.com
A handful of parents questioned a proposal by Lewisville ISD officials Monday that would alter the start times for schools in the district for the 2010-11 school year.
The measure could save the district $500,000 to $750,000 in transportation.
The LISD Board of Trustees hosted a public hearing on the matter Monday, and it’s expected to take a vote on it at its March meeting.
Under this plan, bus routes would be streamlined; one driver would drive three separate routes.
But of the five people who spoke on the issue, four – including one Flower Mound High School student -- opposed the proposal for various reasons.
“I understand about the savings,” said parent Laura Pegg. “But my concern is with the high school (start times). I’m a stay-at-home mom, and I see a lot of teenagers when you are at work. We have a lot of novice drivers out earlier on the roads with younger kids. My second concern is that we also have a vandalism issue in our town. I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and now we have kids with even more free time out there to get in trouble. They don’t all ride the bus, and they don’t all have jobs.”
Others were concerned about taking away from children’s sleep time.
“Sleep is the critical component to help a child strive,” said parent Julie Davenport. “Medical research shows that elementary school-aged children require 10 to 12 hours (of sleep) a night. Every minute counts. Yes, even 10 minutes.”
The one speaker who supported the proposal was Brad Burns, a parent and Lewisville High School principal.
“The change would allow us to serve our four lunches earlier and end them before 2 p.m.,” Burns said. “Presently, lunches end at 2:30 p.m. In addition, we have many students who work, and the earlier release time would assist those students. Finally, LHS has several students in extra-curricular activities, and earlier release times would reduce the number of students who have to leave class for games and events.”
Once the regular meeting got underway, the board listened to residents speak on a variety of other issues. Steve Smith, who is urging LISD to provide a class to teach the Bible, addressed the board.
“The vast majority of Americans believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God,” Smith said. “If God wrote a book that has influenced our culture, wouldn’t we want our children to know how? In over 40 states and 400 school districts across the country, a standalone Bible course is being taught in the classroom.”
Smith said he and a group of supporters would pay for a class to get it off the ground, and he said many teachers have expressed an interest in teaching it.
Smith said more than 100 school districts in Texas already have a class like this, such as Plano, Duncanville and Wylie.
“They have atheists, they have agnostics, they have Christians in that class,” Smith said. “They have a variety, and these kids are very excited. This is not a course on theology. It’s a course on history and culture.”
Later, the board voted on several items, including the rezoning for DeLay and Huffines middle schools. Under the rezoning, about 476 students who are in Huffines zoning will attend DeLay next year. They would join the 248 students who live east of Interstate 35E.
To make up for the loss, about 155 students from DeLay’s zone -- an area bordered by I-35E to the east, Fox Avenue to the south, North Valley Parkway to the west and FM 1171 to the north – will be rezoned for Huffines. That will give Huffines approximately 847 students next year and DeLay about 724 students.
Students who are in the seventh grade at either school this year, as well as their siblings, will have the option of which school to go to next year.
The board also voted to approve the human sexuality curriculum, as well as textbooks for secondary English language arts and reading literature; secondary English for speakers of other languages I and II; English language proficiency standards teacher editions; and English and Spanish language arts and reading.
The board also voted to establish a polling site at Heritage Lakes Clubhouse, a Frisco homeowners association, for early voting and Election Day voting for the May 8 LISD Trustee election. This gives Frisco residents a much closer drive to a polling site than they have had previously.
During the presentations portion of Monday’s LISD Board of Trustees meeting, winners from the LISD Winter Classic Chess Tournament were announced:
1. Armand Behroozi, McKamy MS
2. Chris Hamill, Durham MS
3. Kevin Pazhoor, Liberty ES
4. Alex Sitaras, Lakeview MS
5. Robert Pegg, Donald ES
6. Akash Yechuri, Liberty ES
7. Quincy McGee, Huffines MS
8. Colin Foley, Homestead ES
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
Edd Doerr wrote on Feb 9, 2010 2:57 PM:
" Public school Bible classes are unnecessary. Texas has no shortage of churches for that purpose. Further, there are no suitable textbooks available, teachers are not trained to offer such classes in public schools, and religion experts cannot agree on what should be taught. The public schools have enough to do. Teaching about the Bible should be left to the churches. -- Edd Doerr, President, Americans for Religious Liberty, www.arlinc.org "
ColonyMom13 wrote on Feb 9, 2010 3:45 PM:
" It is my humble opinion, as a mother of 4 children, 3 of which are school aged in this district, that both of these proposals have amazing merit and viability. I disagree that early start/release will increase bad behavior with the teens. I think bad behavior stems from parenting, not the time a child gets out of school. I think it will alleviate morning and afternoon traffic congestion in the school areas, the communities and ultimately the freeways. I know here in the Colony leaving ten minutes earlier is the difference in me sitting on 35 or the toll road for thirty minutes versus an hour. Additional to that, by having less cars on the road at exaclty the same times, and staggering it, like this proposal suggests, we are doing our part in cutting down on the polution caused by cars. Allowing the older kids to leave earlier and play sports, allows them to get home earlier after sports, which lends itself to more time spent with family and more time for homework. Unless there is statistical proof to support bad behavior linked to release times, I would heartily accept this idea for our district.
On the matter on the Bible Class - I couldn't agree MORE! As it states, we are not proposing to teach religion, merely history. No one ever suggests that learning about Hitler and the Holocaust supports Nazi ideals or Judaism - it's merely re-telling an event in history. I suspect in the teachings of this class, they will learn aboutt he parables and miracles of the faith. Just because some don't believe IN them doesn't mean our youth shouldn't be exposed to them. It was not so long ago in this country, that a belief was held that people are measured based on thier skin color. Did we omit the studies of the Abolition of Slavery or Harriet Beacher Stowe? Just because people have their own individual beliefs, does not mean we shouldn't expose our youth to ALL of them. I would rather have a child choose to believe, based on his intrepretation and learning - than be forced to believe in something, simply because I do. Worse than that, it is a child's RIGHT to choose what information we as adults put before him, to use as the foundation of them becoming adults. I DARE any parent opposed to a Religious History class, to closely examine every other vehicle of learning their child is exposed to (radio, tv, video, video games, siblings, and us, parents).
Here's a takeaway thought, I've seen more young people gathered in large volume to audition and cheer for a popular reality talent show, than I have ever seen show up to vote, or at church. As parents, we can help guide our children with the information they are being given in the classrooms. We are doing them a mighty disservice by sheltering them from a Book of History like this one. "
On the matter on the Bible Class - I couldn't agree MORE! As it states, we are not proposing to teach religion, merely history. No one ever suggests that learning about Hitler and the Holocaust supports Nazi ideals or Judaism - it's merely re-telling an event in history. I suspect in the teachings of this class, they will learn aboutt he parables and miracles of the faith. Just because some don't believe IN them doesn't mean our youth shouldn't be exposed to them. It was not so long ago in this country, that a belief was held that people are measured based on thier skin color. Did we omit the studies of the Abolition of Slavery or Harriet Beacher Stowe? Just because people have their own individual beliefs, does not mean we shouldn't expose our youth to ALL of them. I would rather have a child choose to believe, based on his intrepretation and learning - than be forced to believe in something, simply because I do. Worse than that, it is a child's RIGHT to choose what information we as adults put before him, to use as the foundation of them becoming adults. I DARE any parent opposed to a Religious History class, to closely examine every other vehicle of learning their child is exposed to (radio, tv, video, video games, siblings, and us, parents).
Here's a takeaway thought, I've seen more young people gathered in large volume to audition and cheer for a popular reality talent show, than I have ever seen show up to vote, or at church. As parents, we can help guide our children with the information they are being given in the classrooms. We are doing them a mighty disservice by sheltering them from a Book of History like this one. "
acit wrote on Feb 9, 2010 6:08 PM:
" I would like to see comments from the large crowd of attendees. On the human sexuality issue, at first, one board member stated they would need to see the video presentation first. Then after asking the attending "expert" questions, who she stated that subcommittees had already overwhelmingly approved as well as a "counselor colleague" of hers, a vote was taken. What happened to due dilligence? The board member had rightly stated that the video should have been viewed first. Is this the same callous populism that all issues are decided? Also, the subject was approached in a cavalier way, with the presenter making a joke 'we don't have any pictures, he he'.
Separate from all of this, some issues were discussed only in closed session. I specifically attended to hear what that was about. When it came up in open session, neither the issue nor any of the discussion was explained to the public. Simply a vote on the issue. This may have been the most crucial part of the meeting. The only clue we had was that it had to do with potential firing or contract extension or termination. This is not the intent of what should be a transparent set of proceeedings. The news story did not cover this either. Does anyone know anything about this? "
Separate from all of this, some issues were discussed only in closed session. I specifically attended to hear what that was about. When it came up in open session, neither the issue nor any of the discussion was explained to the public. Simply a vote on the issue. This may have been the most crucial part of the meeting. The only clue we had was that it had to do with potential firing or contract extension or termination. This is not the intent of what should be a transparent set of proceeedings. The news story did not cover this either. Does anyone know anything about this? "
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