Last Thursday, we had "Movie Night" at the school - it was suggested by a dad who came to a PTA meeting a few weeks ago, and everyone jumped in to help make it a party.
About 100 families gathered in the school cafeteria and gym. Some wore their pajamas and set up camp to watch "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" while snacking on popcorn (thanks Destinta!).
You can see Reggie Holley and Marilyn Dunkley dishing out the popcorn to a line of patient kids.
For those who preferred some grown-up company, there were lots of parents in the cafeteria enjoying a spread put together by Taneone and Rebecca. There were meatballs, of course, and lots of fresh fruit and veggies.
Of course, I couldn't resist the opportunity to do some organizing too, trying to make sure that all the families know about the redistricting vote on April 6th. We're losing 80 children at Macdonough. Most of the kids who would be leaving us live less than half a mile from Spencer -- and well over a mile from Macdonough. That doesn't make this any easier. I talked to one mom who is slated to move and she said, "No, my child won't be moving. I just had his conference and his teacher says he's more than a year ahead of his grade's reading level. I won't risk losing that and I don't think we'll find it anywhere else. We just won't be leaving. That just won't be happening."
Crazy world, huh? Some people are desperate not to come to Macdonough, and some are desperate not to leave.
So that was Movie Night. I didn't get to see much of the movie, but my kid had a great time, sitting next to his friend-since-kindergarten who'll probably be moving to Spencer next year.
I imagine that there will be a lot of people at the Board of Ed meeting on April 6th (7 pm in the Middletown High auditorium). Some will be for the redistricting - and some against. In the meantime, I'm concentrating on celebrating the community we have together now, even as we get ready for change.
Great story about Macdonough. I continue to enjoy reading all of the positive articles about the school.
ReplyDeleteI think, however, the editorial comments about redistricting are misplaced. Redistricting is not as simple as being "for" or "against" Macdonough - the last I checked, all eight elementary schools are going to be impacted if the ad hoc committee's recommendations are accepted. I, personally, do not agree with the committee's recommendation, but even if it is accepted, my child won't be moved. At the MSA meeting, I spoke to a Snow parent that was vehemently opposed to the committee's recommendation - and her child was being moved to Farm Hill. The vast majority of people that are opposed to redistricting are not opposed to it because their child is being moved to Macdonough (the numbers simply don't support that theory) - they are opposed to redistricting because the concept of choice is being taken away from them - they chose to purchase or rent homes (or apartments) in a particular area so that their child could go to a particular school, be it Macdonough, Snow, Moody, Farm Hill, Spencer, Lawrence, Biefield or Wesley. Redistricting takes that choice away from them. I think that boiling down the issue of redistricting to being "for" or "against" Macdonough is an attempt to oversimplify the city wide impact of the committee's recommendation.