To: School Administration
Dear Principal Harrell,
We are writing as concerned parents to follow-up on a number of issues that were raised last night, Tuesday, February 26th, at the PTA / Board of Education meeting at Davis. We hope you will agree that our shared goal, as parents of Davis students and school administrators, is to ensure our children receive the best education possible in a clean, safe and nurturing environment. Earnest cooperation and mutual respect should govern our relationship as we pursue this objective. We sincerely hope that the issues that were raised will be addressed expeditiously and in the best interest of the children, including:
• Facility Conditions. First, it is simply unacceptable to have bathroom conditions that are so bad that the students refuse to use them, which we have heard from a number of our children. We have personally witnessed conditions in the Davis bathrooms where toilets are covered with excrement, stall doors are broken or missing altogether, there is no toilet paper or soap available, and in at least one case the existence of profane graffiti. Second, the school grounds are far too often covered with litter including beer cans and broken bottles. Third, we are aware of at least one instance where a classroom is infested with ants. We are very pleased to hear that certain needed improvements are being addressed at the school, including the desynchonized clocks and the dilapidated playgrounds, and very excited to hear about the significant improvements planned for the auditorium. We should now allocate the appropriate resources, janitorial or otherwise, to keep the school up to acceptable standards of cleanliness.
• Safety. First, we are concerned about safety issues related to the front door of the school being open after hours while students are attending after school programs but security has left. We recognize that certain groups need access to the building after hours. However, leaving the front doors open without security present when students are still in the building seems like a potentially dangerous policy in this day and age. According to one parent at the meeting, one of the other elementary schools in the District (Webster) keeps the front door locked after hours and only has open access in the area of the school where the after hours program is located. This seems like a potential solution. Second, instances of bullying and harassment were discussed at the meeting concerning a particular student. We expect this issue to be resolved head on and hope it does not lead to violence or serve as a distraction to the students.
• Movies. We do not believe that movie viewing should be a regular activity for the students during recess when the weather does not permit outdoor play. We respectfully disagree with your position that this should be a choice open to the students. We hope that we can come up with activities that are more creative and foster learning or exercise when the weather doesn’t cooperate, such as arts and crafts, gymnasium time, or games. Alternatively, substituting educational programming such as Cyberchase, Magic School Bus, Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, etc. for movies (High School Musical. Alvin and the Chipmunks, etc) would certainly be a reasonable compromise.
Thank you in advance for your serious attention to these matters and we look forward to working together in unison to ensure that our students are given every chance to succeed as Davis students.
Cc: Superintendent of Schools and Members of the Board of Education
Sincerely,
