Aug
5
Will Your Voice Be Heard This YEar?
August 5, 2008 | | Leave a Comment
We live in the greatest country on the planet. When it works (without influence) we have the best system of government
on the planet. Sometimes (usually with undue influence from a special interest) the government doesn’t work right, but it can be fixed. We have the right to rally and fix anything we disagree with. I only have to mention the amendment passed and repealed called “Prohibition“ to prove my point. Oppressive knee jerk reactive legislation once proven to be wrong can be repealed and the situation corrected under our unique system of government.I’m drawing this parallel to cause you to have heart and call you to action. As you know by now, the Florida State Legislature passed a bill substantially modifying our Virtual Schools. As you have found out we can’t enroll siblings this year, and next year when virtual education reverts to local district control, there will be no room for kindergarten enrollees and there may be other regulations the districts want to set, onerous or otherwise.
For all this time, we parents became complacent since everything was going “OK” and we lost the sense of urgency to let our voices be heard about how important the program is to us and how we did not want it changed. All we wanted was to expand the program and guarantee the annual funding, not how it ended up. I have a great respect for most politicians. What they do is hard to be sure. But some politicians in a hurry to please everyone and anxious to be reelected, will respond to the loudest repetitive voices and as proof, I call your attention to the entry on this Blog that follows this one.
This problem with understanding virtual schools and what the parents and families want is not unique to our state; the only thing unique is our tepid response as involved parents. This year (Apri1 15th) when we had our “Day at the Capital” over 200 people signed up and 30 showed up
. (I know how hard it is to make time in schedules and travel long distances for something when you try to balance that with home responsibility, so this is not a criticism.) The State politicians in control those that have say in what we do, look for numbers of people presenting a case. They look for a room full of people, not a space filled with empty chairs. They listen to the people vocalizing a cogent message with a strong voice and not backing down. They looked for us, and we weren’t there. This year a politician (my representative!) said to me, “Obviously what we did is OK, because there’s nobody really complaining except you.” Let me direct you to another Coalition of Virtual School Families who faced not only a situation like this, but also a Court Case SHUTTING DOWN THE VIRTUAL SCHOOLS in their state! Another attempt was made to cut funding, reduce enrollment, over regulate and still…. Through a completely STATEWIDE, GRASS ROOTS effort with hundreds, even thousands of parents, the rulings against were overturned, and now the schools are back, politicians are now listening to the loud parent and family voices, NOT the special interests. See examples of what I’m talking about at
http://www.wivirtualschoolfamilies.org/home/index.cfm?CFID=247291& and read what they did…what WE need to do!With 2000 families enrolled in K-8 virtual education, we need to have 2000 people enrolled in our coalition. With 4000 people on our waiting lists, we need to have 4000 more in our coalition. We need to watch and listen to the politicians that are running for office.
For open positions in the state House and state Senate start by sending emails and letters to the candidates and telling them about the program and its importance to us.
- Send letters
- Send emails
- Make phone calls
- Join the coalition
- Read the Blog and websites every week to watch for changes and calls to action
- Volunteer to be at events to show our strength.
If this program is important to you, you MUST talk about it, you must call about it, and you MUST help us this session as we try to undo and change what has already happened and make it more like or exactly like what we want. You must help us by telling your stories and talking about how your children have grown and flourished.
If you know other virtual school families not enrolled in the coalition, encourage them to join. WE CAN DO THIS.
If WISCONSIN can do this, FLORIDA SURELY CAN. If you have any ideas, or questions, or want to tell what it was that got you to the virtual academy or connections in the first place, contact me directly at
virtualeducation@tampabay.rr.com
.
