Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to your editorial of March 10th concerning Daphne’s city schools dialogue. As the president of SEEDS, Daphne’s education foundation, I haven’t made a statement for or against the city school debate because our mission is clearly for all schools in Daphne -- public, parochial or private; city or county. Also, I personally thought the city school research and dialogue would ultimately promote academic excellence. But the debate has, I’m afraid, gotten out of hand and those who stand to lose the most are our children.  So now, I speak, as a parent of Daphne High, Daphne Middle and Daphne Elementary School South students, as a citizen of Daphne, as well as a SEEDS volunteer.

I can honestly understand how some might feel there could be real benefits to establishing a city school system.  For example –

A city school district would reduce bureaucracy.  Case in point – many are still waiting on a decision regarding the placement of the International Baccalaureate Program.  It is has been 18 months since SEEDS first approached the Baldwin County schools about the possibility of making IB available at Daphne High.  I doubt such decisions about expanding educational opportunity would require as much time in a city district.

A city school board would be accountable to a smaller constituency and Daphne’s needs would be better represented.  Though there is clearly some merit to this claim, I personally believe Board member Tracy Roberts, a parent of a DHS student, has made a solid effort to represent Daphne’s concerns and has played a major role in moving the IB discussion to its current status.  Likewise, board member Denise Schmidt lives in Malbis and her son attends DHS.  So Daphne does, in fact, have a voice on the current board.  Would effectiveness be improved by reducing the number of communities to which school board members are accountable?  Probably, though the politics would surely move to the neighborhood level in that scenario.

A city school district would be more responsive to local values and concerns.  I have to agree on this issue.  In many of the meetings SEEDS has held or attended in which the Baldwin County Board of Education has taken part, the discussion always boils down to the county’s preoccupation with economies of scale and cost effectiveness.  While these are valid points, I think lifting them up as top priorities at every turn poses a hindrance to finding creative solutions to address local concerns.  A city school board would certainly not be limited in their thinking – as the county board appears to be -- to prototype school models and standardization at all costs.

So why not a city school system?  This is indeed the question that has to be resolved if we are to move on to providing the best educational opportunities for our children.

Do we have what is takes to pull it off? For starters, the realities of undertaking the establishment of a separate school system cannot be underestimated; countless important decisions would have to be made and implemented prudently.  Is that really how we want to be spending our energy right now?  To me, there simply isn’t a pervasive public mandate for moving in that direction.  A lot of Daphne citizens – including many educators – seem to have no interest in creating a separate district.  Do we really want to take on such a challenge without everyone on board? 

Daphne is an important part of the Baldwin County community.  Simply put, I have a hard time envisioning Daphne’s schools disconnected from and disinterested in the progress taking place in other Eastern Shore and north, central and south Baldwin County schools.  Do we really want to isolate ourselves from the rest of the county and relinquish responsibility for all the children in this community who need to share in our passion for educational excellence?

So if neither solution is perfect, what do we do?  SEEDS has tried to find a middle ground, yet the difficulty of making ourselves heard and acknowledged in the larger mix is considerable. Last November SEEDS convened a meeting with Mayor Small, Dr. Hollinger, and several city council members and school board representatives to attempt to work through some of the issues driving the current unrest in Daphne. It was a good meeting. The possibility of the Lake Forest school was one of the many creative ideas that came out it. (E-mail us at seedsindaphne@aol.com for a copy of the report.)

But the most telling development from that meeting is this – the school system committed to everyone at that table to conduct a traffic study at Daphne Elementary School South to determine the impact of the proposed new building being designed for an unprecedented 1,150 elementary students. Well, four months later, we are still without a traffic study and construction plans continue. We were told last week the traffic study is expected from the architectural firm any day. But after all this time, we are not holding our breath.

In the meantime, our Mayor has had to resort to threats to sue the school board in order to get their attention while other communities are already moving to take advantage of the new local tax district option to raise an additional 3 mills to fund community school initiatives.

So where does that leave Daphne?  As usual, repeating the old adage, “This isn’t fair.” No, it probably isn’t. But is anyone still willing to sit down and figure out the best solution for our children? SEEDS tried to establish that dialogue last November, yet here we are with no traffic study and the threat of a lawsuit. Who are the losers in this continuing conflict?  The children of Daphne.

So Dr. Hollinger and members of the Baldwin County Board of Education, we are going to keep asking -- let us have the opportunity to apply for the IB program at Daphne High. Give us a traffic study for Daphne Elementary South and the opportunity to explore other funding alternatives before you break ground on an elementary school for 1,150 children.

Mayor Small and City Council members, we need you to act immediately to secure these additional 3 mills for the Daphne schools.  Let’s get it on the ballot as a referendum in June and rally the Daphne community to support it so we can have some real leverage for discussing creative school construction solutions. Let’s unify our community around educational excellence for all schools.

We look to our elected leaders here at home and at the county level to do what’s right and best for the future of Daphne and Baldwin County, but we also look to the community at large to hold them accountable to that task.

Ruth Cardinal Seawell