Dear JCPS Board of Education Members: We, the voters of Jefferson County, are not happy with the state of our public school system. We are disappointed by the large number of failing schools in our district, and we demand better schools for our children. The success of our public schools is essential to the future of our city’s growth. As an elected member of the Board of Education, you should be aware that if you are not willing to make drastic changes to our schools, you will not be re-elected. We are unhappy with the current student assignment plan. We are upset because we believe that race is still being used as the main factor to assign students. In the spring of 2009, the administration made decisions about the 2009-10 student assignments in complete secrecy, and they refuse to reveal the exact methods used to assign students. If race was not used as a factor in these decisions, why is the administration refusing to make this a transparent process As parents, we are offended that we are not allowed to choose the elementary school our children attend. During the 2009-10 assignment process, many parents were not happy with the school to which their child was assigned. In some cases, the parents’ listed choices were ignored completely and the child was assigned to a random school. No one knows a child better than his/her parents, so the parents alone should be allowed to decide which school is best for their child. However, you support a plan that assigns students to schools based on their race and/or ethnicity. Since the 1970’s, you have maintained that racial integration is the best way to improve our schools. However, our schools have been fully integrated for many years, yet many of our public schools continue to fail. Therefore, a dramatic new approach is needed. We believe that a combination of neighborhood schools and an increased number of proven magnet programs is a better way to ensure continued diversity and successful schools in the future. We are no longer going to sit quietly by while you assign our children to schools far from home, forcing them to spend hours each day on busses. We want to reduce the amount of money spent on transportation costs, and increase funding to failing schools. We want you to enact radical changes that will ensure that none of our schools are failing. We insist that you open enough successful magnet programs to ensure that no student is denied entry to their program of choice. If you want to continue serving as an elected member of the Board of Education, you will begin a dialogue with us and begin making changes based on what the voters want for our public schools. We demand that you incorporate our ideas into a radical new plan that will ensure parental choice and successful schools throughout Louisville. Otherwise, we will support and elect opposition candidates who are willing to make these sweeping changes.

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