Dear SCES Families,

 

Last week I wrote to you about the Transportation Department presenting a proposal to change our bell schedule by 55 minutes for the incoming school year. Following this, The Board of Education solicited a survey requesting information on how the bell schedules would create hardships for Wake County families. I am pleased to report that Sycamore Creek responded louder and clearer than any other school with 651 families surveyed. Based on our responses, we underscored collectively that SCES families DO NOT support this change and have highlighted the personal and economic impact this bell schedule would produce.

 

On Tuesday, the Transportation Department presented a "revised" 2012-2013 bell schedule proposal once again to the Board of Education. This revision has moved our proposed bell schedule from 55 minutes to 45 minutes with a start time now of 9:15AM. The Transportation Department has once again cited budget savings for this proposal without providing tangible facts to support this change. I know many of you had completed the survey and wrote individual letters to the Board of Education as well as Superintendent Tata. With this revision now being proposed, we need to once again rally and send emails to our Board of Education detailing "specifics" as to what this change would do to you as a family as a community.

 

Questions and points to consider would be:

1) Personal Repercussions

- does this time change affect any other siblings

- could your child still attend after-school activities

- would a family member/friend/neighbor still be able to help with child-care

2) Professional Repercussions

- would your employer allow a later start time

- could this change jeopardize your job or a shift you work

- would you be able to travel to clients as before

- how would this affect recurring business meetings

3) Economic Impacts

- would you now require before and after-school care

- could your family budget this extra expense

- what would this do to local businesses that your child participates with, would the activity still be available?

 

Obviously every family has their own unique situation which the School Board MUST hear from. If you haven't already sent an email or if you sent an email during the first proposal, I would ENCOURAGE you to send another given that a second proposal is now being considered. It is clear that our SCES families are OPPOSED to this bell schedule and as we hear frequently in the news, the School Board can affect that change. According to the Wake County website, the board must approve the bell schedule by March 31st. The sooner WE ALL communicate our opposition to the School Board and Superintendent Tata, the better. We have already heard from our District 7 Rep., Deborah Prickett that the board has heard a strong showing from Sycamore Creek. Within the next few days, we need to collectively overwhelm the Wake County servers with emails from our families. In addition, I would recommend typing: SYCAMORE CREEK AGAINST BELL CHANGE in bold letters in the email subject line. Certainly after receiving hundreds of those messages, the board must vote in our favor!

 

As a reminder, the board members and email contacts are as follows:

Jmartin4@wcpss.net,

 

Sycamore Creek Elementary is the 2nd largest elementary school in Wake County and Wake County is the 16th largest district in the nation! Our families can affect this change and can send the Transportation Department and the Board of Education a clear message that this proposed bell schedule is not the right direction for Sycamore Creek and our Wake County families!

 

Thank you in advance for your support and I will continue to provide updates as they are available.

 

Best Regards,

 

Roxanne C. Rowe, PTA President

Sycamore Creek Elementary School

 

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Welcome to the Sycamore Creek PTA Webpage.  We hope that this will help you stay informed of all PTA events this year. We look forward to a year full of activities that will be part of your child's elementary experience.  We hope that by keeping you "in the know," you can easily find information to help guide you on this journey with your child.

Please click on the tabs below to help find out about our exciting events, to join our PTA, or to sign up to volunteer. We are geared up to start a brand new year and ready to do our best to support each and every child at Sycamore Creek Elementary School.  With your help, we will accomplish so very much to keep "our Crocs rocking!"