BREAKING NEWS!!!! WE WON!!
SCHOOL WILL START NO EARLIER THAN 14 DAYS PRIOR TO LABOR DAY FOR 2007/2008
NO EXCEPTIONS, NO WAIVERS!!!
Through the help of some concerned parents setting up a web site and an excellent communications system, a large number of citizens were able to keep abreast of current legislation considerations as well as influence the outcome.
This is the way democracy should work. Broward County school board unilaterally ignored parents majority and are starting schools early again. They did finally relent and changed the start date from August 3rd or something like that (UGH!) to a week later. Not willing to accept this plan which affects camp dates, private schools start dates, and much more, we pushed for state legislation.
My daughter overheard me on the speaker phone a couple of nights ago and was surpised to hear Jeff Atwaters (R-FL 25th) answering machine come on. She knows I have been actively fighting this issue since 2004 so I wondered why it was such a surprise. The answer- “this coming year we’ll both be in a school that starts later”. We discussed the importance of how this issue affects so many families who don’t want to start school early, it’s impact on us in prior years, and it could affect us again some day. If you want change, you need to help make it change.
The two year plus effort was a good lesson.