Barbara Read Announces Candidacy for Dexter Community Schools Board of Education

My name is Barbara Read, and I am running for the Dexter Community Schools Board of Education.

Although it is not the biggest issue facing the district at this time, the late August classroom notification needs to change. 

Imagine a summer where you already know who your child’s teacher will be. Imagine a summer where you have the classroom supply list in time for the great summer sales. Imagine visiting the classroom with your child and meeting the teacher in mid-August.

Wouldn’t it be nice to find out that the child down the street will have the same teacher as your son or daughter, so you can make a play date? What if you knew whether the teacher needed gallon-size ziplock bags, dry erase markers or a specific brand of college-ruled five subject notebook when these things were still on sale? 

Why do Dexter parents need to imagine this? Because classroom letters are not mailed out until late August. 

• Is it because the classroom assignments have not been made yet? No. We know that the teachers and principals have made the lists before the offices close for summer. 

• Is it because most assignments get changed anyway? No. The vast majority of the classroom assignments never get changed from spring. 

• Is it because parents will storm the school demanding changes? Certainly not. Chelsea schools give the assignments out in early summer, and parents are mostly just glad. While it is true that there may be an unhappy parent or child, withholding the classroom lists only delays the inevitable for these families — and the delay makes it harder to find a solution everyone can be satisfied with. 

One legitimate reason parents are given for the delay is that assignments might change, and the administration prefers to send home final lists. They don’t have the final lists until late summer.

I would rather get a correct classroom assignment most years and put up with a last minute change on occasion, than not find out until the last minute. The benefit of knowing all summer who the teacher will be (and for the youngest students, which school they will attend), outweighs the concerns about possible changes.

Finding out sooner is a good thing. Perhaps because there is not currently a school board member with elementary-age children attending Dexter Schools, this question has not been addressed. The board members may not understand how the delay impacts Dexter families, but I do.

I know about guessing at the sales and buying the wrong kind of scissors or getting notebooks instead of binders by mistake. I also know about waiting for the teacher’s list and then paying way too much for a three-inch binder. Without knowing specifically what the classroom teacher wants, parents do not have the tools they need to shop smart. 

I’d like to change that. 

Because last year my husband and I had a child at every school, I understand the younger as well as the older students’ needs. While I recognize that getting classroom assignments earlier is not the biggest issue facing the district, I think the letters should go out sooner, so children can know who their teacher will be and which friends will be in class with them; and so that parents can benefit by being able to shop earlier.

If elected to the school board, I will advocate for students of all ages in the district because every student matters. 

For more information, feel free to contact me at http://www.barbararead.org/.