Letter to the editor of the Republican 10/16/2000 This letter has been shortened in an attempt to meet the 300 word requirement for letters to the editor. However, to shorten it any further would seriously compromise correcting egregious errors in the Republican's article, "Parent group snubs new west side school". -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Republican has been noticeably absent from Batavia School Board meetings all summer and from the first two community forums. You were contacted this summer asking if you would report what was happening in the district and what the Equal Choice group was presenting to the board. You chose not to. So here it is, October 12, and you finally decide to write an article. However, I'd like to correct and clarify several statements contained in that article. 1) The third forum was held on Thursday, October 5, not October 12. 2) "Parent group snubs new west side school" 3) "a small group of parents are still fighting the border battle that ended months ago." 4) "they do not want their child to attend the new west side location" Equal Choice parents are actually asking that the boundary decision remain in place for us and that our children be able to attend our neighborhood school. The parents who did state that our children should not attend the new West Side school were from the McWayne MI school. 5) "Multiple intelligence is not a curriculum, but rather a philosophy that says all children learn differently." Most people agree children can learn differently and that is not the distinguishing characteristic of that philosophy. MI is actually a theory. It states that there are at least nine different "intelligences" and the teaching methods would promote all of them. It does not value one intelligence over another. Howard Gardner, the theory's creator, is opposed to standardized tests and offers no way to measure these intelligences. 6) "Some parents said there should be two schools at the new West Side location..." The Equal Choice parents haven't asked for two schools, but have asked for both the MI program as well as some more traditional classes to be available at the new school. There are MI teachers and more traditional teachers in the other four schools currently and they do not need separate hallways or separate principals. There are already plans for two programs in that school. The developmental preschool program is to be relocated to that school as well. It is currently housed at Gustafson and is proof that two programs (two very different programs) can coexist in one building. 7) "Oke frowned on allowing parents to opt out of the West Side school. `We have virtually never allowed parents to choose a teacher, a curriculum, an attendance site, Oke said.'" Nice try to confuse the issue. No one from Equal Choice is asking for a specific or different teacher, curriculum, or an attendance center. We do not want to have to opt out of our school. However, eight years ago this district offered a choice of learning philosophies to the parents in the community and will continue to do so for five of the six new boundary areas. One group is being assigned to this voluntary "choice" program. That is not equal, nor is it choice. For more accurate information regarding the parents' position, you may check out the Equal Choice website at http://www.tltodd.com/equal_choice. It was probably a good decision to omit printing anything all this time than to print something so full of error and misrepresentation. Donna Todd 1S445 Wenmoth Rd. Batavia 879-8077The above letter was printed in the 11/9/2000 issue of the Batavia Republican.