[CSPS] Express Concerns to CSISD Board--7:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 18, CSISD Board Meeting

[Mahajan, Arvind]

Regarding letter from CSPS member Lisa Ellis below, this is a good opportunity to express your concerns to the CSISD board. Please let her know  (  <mailto:kellis at politics.tamu.edu> ellis at politics.tamu.edu) if you can join her.
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Lisa Ellis [mailto:ellis at politics.tamu.edu]
Sent: Friday, January 14, 2005 1:42 PM
To: 'Jonathan Coopersmith'; 'Karla Eidson'; Paul Kellstedt; David Peterson; Joan Wolf; 'Mike'; Mahajan, Arvind; 'Lisa Halperin'
Subject: join me at the next school board meeting: 1/18 


Dear Friends,
 
I'll be at the next school board meeting (7 pm, next Tuesday, January 18, CSISD Board Room, 1812 Welsh, College Station).  I would dearly love company.  I'm going to be complaining about the drastic cuts College Station made this year in their funding for gifted and talented students.  
I know that there are other more pressing issues in the world of education.  But this one is hitting my daughter, Susie, directly.  Susie has special needs that the schools are not addressing.  They are so short-staffed at College Hills this year that kids doing pull-out enrichment rotate on and off for six-week periods.  This means the already inadequate once-per-week enrichment is only available half the time.  With TAKS and other tests coming up, the kids will be spending far too much of their time doing worksheets, and far too little engaging their intellectual curiosity.
The district is committed to what's called the "SEM model" for g/t education, and this model calls for at least one specialist per campus.  This year, they are only able to fund one for every two campuses.  
I don't think it's a good idea to wait and hope that the legislature will rescue our schools.   So  I'm going to ask the board to restore this funding (you show up and sign a card to speak at the very beginning of the meeting: thus, anyone who joins me will not have to stay for the whole meeting, but can go home, or head out for a nice beer with me, instead).
Thanks for reading all this!  Feel free to forward this message to anyone else you think might be interested.
All the best,
Lisa Ellis
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