How Well Are Your Children Being Educated?

First, a little background on the following information. We relocated from South Carolina to Pennsylvania in June of 2007. In South Carolina my children attended two wonderful schools in the North Myrtle Beach area and were both in advanced classes.

Upon our relocation I contacted the Uniontown Area School District Superintendent to find the appropriate school nearest to our home. From June until August I called, repeatedly, to no avail.

In the meantime, I had been doing some research online with regard to the schools in the Uniontown area, finding the worst of them to be Lafayette School with the highest proficiency rating being 48%, and that's in one grade and one subject. Ben Franklin was well above 50% as was Menallen and other surrounding elementary schools. Lafayette is so far below the National Average in all subjects it's amazing to me they are allowed to educate the children. And lucky us, Lafayette was the school my children were to attend.

In August, as the beginning of the school year was fast approaching I went to the Superintendent's Office, hoping to speak with him in person as he would not return my calls. Upon arriving I was informed that he was on vacation until the next week. Now please keep in mind I had been attempting to reach this gentleman since we moved in June and had still not heard from him. I asked his secretary about having my children attend Ben Franklin, as it is only 1/4 mile further from our home than Lafayette, making sure she was aware I would be willing to drop them off and pick them up and asked that the Superintendent contact me upon his return. His secretary informed me that in all likelihood my children would have to attend Lafayette or they could attend a school "on the mountain", in Farmington. Being from the south and not familiar with driving in wintery weather in the north I informed her that attending a school "on the mountain" would not be viable.

The next week I got a call from the Superintendent's secretary stating they could either attend Lafayette or I could home school them! Keep in mind this is less than two weeks before school starts. Knowing there was a School Board Meeting the following Monday I attended. Upon my arrival I found very few parents, a considerable number of older people, a few pastors and the School Board Members. After waiting more than 45 minutes for their Executive Session to end the School Board Members joined us in the band room at the high school. The agenda seemed to center around the older community members opposing a new high school, resignations of teachers, new staff hires and very little to do with the actual education of the children.

During the Meeting people were given the opportunity to speak to the Board, not a discussion with the Board, but simply to stand and speak and sit back down. The majority of people attending, again, were older people in the community who took up considerable time opposing the new high school. There was a group there addressing the up and coming children and a new system they were putting in place. The School Board did address the discipline issues at Lafayette School finally. Their concern was geared more towards the security staff that would be put in place at the school and very little to do with the children's education.
At this point I addressed the School Board regarding the lack of conversation about the education of the children in Uniontown. I made several statements to the Board regarding the proficiency rating at Lafayette School. I was informed that they were having to address the discipline issue before they could move on to the education of our children. Surprisingly a gentleman stood up in the back and informed us that he had co-workers who purposely picked other surrounding towns to live in because of the school system in Uniontown. There was a mother who also addressed the School Board regarding the lack of parental involvement in the schools. This portion of the meeting lasted all of 10 minutes and we were back to the opposition from the older community members to build a new high school.

Lafayette School did not go from being a wonderful education establishment to a poor excuse for a school overnight. This has been slowly deteriorating for years. The sheer lack of commitment by the School Board to address the issues at Lafayette was appalling.

As the first day of school was fast approaching I, against my better judgment, enrolled my children in Lafayette. The first day of school my son, a third grader, comes home and tells me that a child in his class removed his shirt and over my son sitting at his desk began hitting a little girl seated next to my son with his shirt. The teacher approached the child and the child began hitting the teacher with his shirt. At this point in the conversation with my son I'm in total disbelief. I get a call from the teacher later on that night to inform me of the incident. I asked my son to let me know when the child returned to the class. Surprise, he was there the very next day! So much for the attention to discipline.

My daughter, a fifth grader, came home the following week with an account of a fight in her class, constant disruptions, children being sent to ISS (In School Suspension). I asked my daughter to let me know when these children returned to class. Again, the next day I was informed they were back in class.
School has been in session since August 27, 2007 and every single week my children come home with stories that completely terrify me. This is only the fourth week of school and I've heard more horror stories than I can type. My children are being picked on by their classmates because they have excellent grades.
My children come from schools in South Carolina where Respectful, Responsible and Ready was their motto! I so want my children to have the interpersonal communication and the school experience, but I'm not willing to put them in physical danger for their education.

I have also found that Ben Franklin has a number of incidents. One of my daughter's friends attends Ben Franklin and told us about a child being tazered at school. Apparently children have taken control of the school system here in Uniontown and no one seems to be able to handle them with authority instead of violence.

There is a link attached for the proficiency rating at this school. Unfortunately the ethnicity of the students is completely inaccurate. My son is one of four non-black children in his class and my daughter is one of five non-black children in her class. This is by no means a prejudicial statement, simply a fact. We are Native American, so we are one of the smallest groups in the country. Please feel free to check the statistics they posted, though the ethnicity is out of date, I believe most of them to accurate.

Lafayette School is also located across the street from a bar, freely advertising beer and cigarettes across the front of the building, in full sight of the children's classrooms.

There is another issue that needs to be addressed. Children in kindergarten should not be attending the same school as eighth graders. I believe the separation of those age groups would be beneficial to all.

I have found a wonderful "cyber school" that I have contacted and will be enrolling my children in. Through Connections Academy, which is a public school curriculum online, I will be home schooling my children until the Uniontown Area School District can bring up their proficiency ratings and take back control of the school from the students.

I was always told the schools in the north are much better than the schools in the south, apparently they haven't been to Uniontown. I don't know how I'm going to continue with my career and home school my children, but I do feel that they must be removed from the atrocities taking place in the school system here. I want my children educated, not exposed to all the chaos and dangers in the school system as it is today.

I have contacted the Pennsylvania School Board, but have not received a call or e-mail back at this point. It is truly a sad day when discipline is the main goal, not education.