May 14, 2008 08:10 pm
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We believe: Two city council members let their allegiance to their employer interfere with city business.
Last week, the Anderson City Council voted to rezone the former Twenty-fifth Street Elementary School back to a school zone in anticipation of the Anderson Preparatory School, a charter school that will open in the fall.
Two council members — Rick Muir and Mike Welch — voted against it. Both are teachers at Anderson Community Schools. When it comes to what’s best for the city and what’s best for the school system, it’s easy to see where their allegiances lie.
ACS has been against this charter school from the beginning. The academy, which will be a public school without tuition, will enroll approximately 300 students and will take away money from ACS if its students come from Anderson. There are no boundaries for the academy. Students can come from all over. ACS went so far as to try to put limits on who could buy its old buildings, but that move fell through.
The Anderson Preparatory Academy will have a military theme, and students will be cadets. It will offer students a unique experience in education. Being a public school, the academy cannot turn away students, so it’s first-come, first-serve. This fall, only grades six through eight will be taught, but eventually the academy will also be a high school.
During the campaigning period for the May 6 school board election, Irma Hampton (Nave) Stewart, who won, declared her support for the charter school, saying in effect that any school that gets the job of education done is good.
This newspaper has been a backer of the academy since it was first announced. It’s good to have educational choices. Though ACS continues to show improvement, the system falls short for many parents who look to alternative opportunities to educate their children.
It’s disappointing to see Muir, a Democrat, and Welch, a Republican, unite to try and deny zoning for the academy. These two men, serving as representatives of the city, are not looking at the larger picture for the city in favor of parochialism concerning their school system. For example, having a charter school is an economic development tool that could aid the entire city. In turn, that would aid ACS.
Muir and Welch are being short-sighted on this. The rest of the council had no problem with passing the rezoning. Anderson residents have a right to see their representatives do what is best for the city and not play favorites to what amounts to special interests.
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