To the Editor:
This letter is a response to the last three sentences in a story in the Tyler Tribute Vol. 38 No. 35: "RTR School board discusses possible cuts from the state." The last three sentences of this article read: "Houck presented a letter he drafted to be sent out to families who have students open enrolled into other districts. The letters would inquire about why they decided to open enroll outside of the RTR district. School board member Bill Clark volunteered to call each of the families in addition to the letter."
My name is Doug Gladis and I am currently a junior at Marshall Public Schools and I would like to publicly inform everyone why I have open enrolled out of RTR Public Schools and into Marshall Public Schools. Marshall offers a greater amount of everything.
The first reason why I chose Marshall over RTR is that they have an enormous, brand new high school. The school has a better atmosphere with the larger hallways, the music that is played between classes, the new auditorium, better air quality, and they don't have any useless condemned parts of their school that they are too stubborn to demolish. The school smells just so clean and it is refreshing when you walk through the front doors. I have for the first time actually started looking forward to going to school. Also Marshall has a much larger student body, so every individual can find a place to fit in.
All of the Marshall teachers actually enjoy teaching and they are very direct about displaying their passion for teaching. They try their hardest to keep you on track for graduation and your future. Their prominent goal is getting to know their students, rather than assuming that you have the exact same personality and ability as your older siblings. They have a school security officer to ensure the safest possible environment. The administration respects the students' individuality and, therefore, the students regard their authority.
Marshall in addition has an endless list of classes to perfect your education. They also offer a greater amount of advanced classes for advanced students. Marshall has the most extra curricular activities for a school in the area. They support their fine arts program more equally with their sports program, rather than pumping all their money into sports and terminating academic programs.
A couple of my final reasons for transferring to Marshall are that they have a healthier selection of food at lunch. They also focus more on educating their students rather than solely teaching them what's going to be on the state tests. Finally one of the biggest advantages Marshall has over RTR is the block scheduling. Block scheduling has four classes a day for longer time periods instead of having seven short classes. Students can get more work accomplished during class resulting in less homework. Having four classes a day, a student is able to learn in depth about a subject rather than skimming the surface. This is a more efficient way of schooling because in a given school year a student can earn up to eight credits instead of seven.
In conclusion, this is my rationalistic reason for departure from RTR Schools.
Sincerely,
Douglas R. Gladis
Russell