By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net
Some downtown merchants and Davidson Elementary School parents are planning to try to revive “Fridays on the Green” this week by organizing a Friday afternoon gathering that would include free ice cream. Officials at Davidson Elementary School say they’re willing to consider revising a new policy that ended the weekly after-school tradition, but they won’t make an exception this week.
The effort comes as some parents continue to question a decision by the school’s former principal, and now upheld by a new principal, to stop letting parents give their fifth-grade students permission to walk to the Village Green on Main Street after school on Fridays. (See Feb. 24, 2012, “New school policy ends fifth graders’ Fridays on the Green.”)
That policy, announced in a Feb. 13 letter sent home to parents, said the school would no longer dismiss students to walk to the Green on Fridays, even if they have their parents’ permission to do so. Instead students must stick to their usual mode of transportation home – riding the bus or getting picked up by parents.
A new letter this week offers to allow the walks once a month – on the fourth Friday – but only if parents sign up with the school as volunteer chaperones. The school said Thursday that kids would not be allowed to walk to the Green this week, since it’s not the fourth Friday.
What might happen this week is not clear. Ben & Jerry’s ice cream manager Karen Toney is offering free ice cream on the Green and hoping some students will join her. She said she’s saddened by the school’s decision to stop the Friday tradition, and is calling Friday’s gathering “Occupy the Green.” (See her comments, Occupy the Green Friday and fight for a local tradition.”)
Davidson Elementary’s former interim principal, Anne Nivens, said last month the ban was prompted by complaints from parents and businesses and concerns about safety and unruly behavior. She also told DavidsonNews.net that fifth-grade students are too young to be out without an adult.
But there’s another side to the story, some parents say: The surprise termination, without public discussion, of a longtime local tradition that parents themselves had sanctioned. Meanwhile, DavidsonNews.net talked to shopkeepers and store managers two weeks ago, and found none who said they had complained. In fact, some business owners worry that the end of the Friday gatherings will hurt business. The owner of The Soda Shop on Main Street told DavidsonNews.net last month it could cost her $50,000 a year.
Kim Fleming, the Davidson’s Downtown Manager, said she’d like to see the Friday tradition revived somehow. “I hope that it returns, for the good of the kids and downtown,” she said.
ONCE A MONTH, WITH CHAPERONES
Just a week into his new job, new Davidson Elementary Principal Dana Jarrett was not available to talk about the situation on Wednesday or Thursday because of meetings. School secretary Carina Nevel responded on his behalf Thursday by saying that the new letter to parents spells out the school’s position. That March 7 letter proposes to allow Friday dismissals to the Village Green once a month, but only if enough parents sign up in the school office to chaperone kids as they leave.
Parents still would not be allowed to give their children permission to walk to the Green on other Fridays.
“Students will not be dismissed to the Green without parent volunteers,” the letter says. Volunteers would have to sign up on the Thursday before the fourth Friday, and parents would have to send permission notes before 9 a.m. on that Friday. Those students will be given a “Green Pass” that would be required in order to walk to the Green. The once-a-month Fridays on the Green would be continue unless there are complaints, the letter says, adding:
Davidson administration will provide this opportunity as long as we do not receive any legitimate complaints from downtown businesses, law enforcement, or community members. We also will respect our 5th grade teachers’ instruction time by asking the students to refrain from interruptions related to this activity during the school day. As long as these few stipulations are met, we will honor this tradition in the Davidson Community month to month for the remainder of this school year.
“They have spoken to the mayor and Officer Miller (Davidson Police Chief Jeanne Miller) about it, and it will be the fourth Friday,” Ms. Nevel said. Asked about the plans for an event this week, March 9, she replied: “There won’t be any changes at the last minute.”
POLICE CHIEF: NOTHING ILLEGAL
Chief Miller said Thursday she and her department had nothing to do with formulating the policy and have no role in enforcing it. She said her officers have long been aware of the Friday gatherings and officers sometimes stop by the Green to check in on the students.
“There’s nothing illegal about the kids gathering on the Green,” Chief Miller said. “On the three weeks out of the month where the school is not going to let the kids gather from school, there’s nothing that prohibits a parent from allowing their children to come home from school and then go to the Green.”
For most green-going students, that will mean taking a bus home and then a car ride to the Green, or getting picked up and ferried to the Green by mom or dad. Some parents are lamenting the loss of a tradition that allowed kids to walk from school themselves once a week, even if they don’t live near the school, and to learn to be responsible and socialize with fellow students outside of school. Other parents have complained that the end of the policy came as an edict, without discussion. (See the many comments on our Feb. 24 story.)
Mayor John Woods said Thursday the town hasn’t been involved in the policy change. “I feel like that’s an issue between the parents and the kids and the school,” he said. But he also hopes the halt to Fridays on the Green isn’t permanent.
“Personally, I love the tradition,” Mayor Woods said. “It’s a great time for kids to spread their wings appropriately and to grow and to have some social time that is basically free. It’s a wonderful part of a small community.”
Parent Sara Kratt agrees, though she thinks asking for school-approved parent chaperones goes too far. In an email Wednesday she said: “The tradition of ‘allowing’ American children attending American schools to freely leave school grounds, after school hours and walk home on their own free will is not a privilege, but a legal American right. … Since when did walking home (or to the park, library, friend’s house etc.) become something the school needed to deem ‘acceptable’?”
RELATED LINKS AND DOCUMENTS
March 8, 2012, Letter to the Editor by Karen Toney, “Occupy the Green Friday and fight for a local tradition.”)
March 7, 2012, Letter from Davidson Elementary School to parents, proposing once-monthly walks to the green.”
Feb. 24, 2012, DavidsonNews.net, “New school policy ends fifth graders’ Fridays on the Green”
Feb. 16, 2012, Davidson Elementary School letter to parents about the new policy. (PDF)
CLARIFICATION: This story has been revised to say that Principal Dana Jarrett’s schedule kept him from commenting on the issue this week, instead of saying that he declined to comment.
Thanks to Karen for sponsoring the event this Friday and keeping the issue alive.
I met recently with Principal Jarrett to discuss this issue. I think he is in a difficult position stepping into this matter without much background and without personal knowledge. His primary concerns seem to be respecting the traditions of the town and doing everything he can for the safety of the children, with the latter being his greatest concern. I think he sincerely wants to do the right thing.
I am not sure that the principal understands the depth of feeling on this issue and may not be getting a full picture of how many parents and children love this tradition. Unfortunately, he has received some comments that have been very harsh, which do little good other than give the writer a chance to vent.
It is my understanding that ultimately if a parent gives his or her child a signed note saying that the child will be a walker that day, without any mention of the Green, the school has to honor the request, even if it is not for a Friday on the schedule set by the school. Parents may want to confirm this situation themselves before using. However, I think that we as parents can decide for our children whether they will walk at the end of the school day.
I hope that people continue to let their feelings be known in a positive way so that we can get this wonderful tradition reinstated in full. Now that the children know that this is a privilege that can be lost or threatened, it will give them the opportunity to improve their behavior in town and avoid any of the problems that have existed previously.
John Cunningham
National Attention and a Petition Drive
Davidson Elementary’s new policy is now getting national attention. Entries this week on:
Kaboom.org – 5th graders banned from playing on Village Green
– http://kaboom.org/blog/5th_graders_banned_playing_village_green
Free Range Kids – More outrage: 5th graders can no longer play outside alone – http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/2012/03/07/more-outrage-5th-graders-can-no-longer-play-outside-alone/
Someone has even started a Change.org petition asking principal Dana Jarrett to overturn the policy. At the time of this writing, it had about 300 signatures.
I rarely let things get under my skin. Usually I can at least understand the “other side” of an issue even if I disagree. But for some reason, this has really ruffled my feathers.
The audacity of school officials telling me that THEY will not allow MY child to go, after school hours (when they have no authority over him) to a public place (where they have no authority) is mind boggling and infuriating.
Even if he has no interest in going I will make sure my fifth grader is at the green EVERY Friday.
Since when did CMS and its representatives unilaterally decide they can control what students do after school, and off school property? Are they emulating North Korea? Bravo to Karen at Ben and Jerry’s for standing up to these officials who are way out of line. I will donate $25 toward free ice cream tomorrow at the shop, and I hope others will too.
I think John Cunningham’s suggestion of just sending a fifth grader with a note that he/she is to walk home that day makes total sense. Parents decide what and where children go after school – not the school system. I hope someone can persuade the new principal, who is not the one who tried to tell parents what their children could and could not do after school, to talk to former principals at Davidson Elementary and come to an understanding of how important certain traditions in Davidson are. It is up to parents to decide what children can safely do after school. It is not up to a principal or teacher or anyone else.
Cary Johnston
Putting this tradition in question has been a sad situation for our community and it appears to be unanimously unpopular as well. I have really not heard one supportive opinion in person or in the media (other than the temp principal of the school). The partial change back for permission on the 4th Friday from DES just seems to be a saving face move on the administration’s part. The process was so very flawed here, I am now concerned with the process DES uses in making all policy decisions.
I can only assume that if you send a note that you want your child to be a walker on any other day, they will not be allowed to do so in that case as well.
Quite frankly, the school and CMS has no business being involved in this process. If as a parent, I wish my child to be a walker home from school, I should have every right to do so. Like any other parent who requests that their child be able to walk home on other days of the week, this should be treated the same.
Unless CMS eliminates the ability for a child to be a walker on any other day, they have no right determining if my child can walk home on a Friday. If I decide that my child can stop and play at the Green on the way home, that is my decision, just like it would be if they were to stop at the library, for a music lesson or at a friend’s house.
I don’t accept the plan presented to the students today at school.
The reason we chose live in the Davidson community, was for the safety and freedom to partake in the many activities our community offers. The ability to play on the Green, walking to town to enjoy the library or to visit our local vendors are all part of the community experience and CMS/Davidson Elementary have absolutely no right to infringe on the ability to do so.
Tim Cowie
My daughter and I will be walking to the Green this afternoon…it’s not for the ice cream, though that’s a nice incentive we’ll relish. It’s in support of one of the more important lessons we should be teaching our children–that they can be quite responsible for their actions and safety by (at least) the 5th grade. Also, in support of a very nice small town tradition where people look after each other. Also, quite in opposition to what I think is an overreach by school administrators so used to one-size-fits-all methodology that they’ve ignored both the issues above… What is THIS lesson teaching our children about leadership, responsibility, and the values of our community? This policy is teaching them that they live in the so-called ‘nanny state,’ where they’re not safe without an adult, or cannot be responsible, and that every child is tarred with the same brush as those who do bad stuff.
I had a chance to meet Principal Dana Jarrett and talk about the situation at midday Friday. He said the school is working on a new letter to parents that will clarify the school policy. He said after consulting with his Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ superiors, the school would honor written requests from parents to allow their children to leave the school as walkers. That’s true any day, not just one Friday a month, he said.
He said the school received only four written requests from parents to allow their children to walk today.
Mr. Jarrett said he is in a tough situation: He’s been on the job just seven days, and is still getting to know the community. With the debate over Fridays on the Green, he said, “The fact is that my role now is to ‘heal’ it.”
Mr. Jarrett will be at the Parent Teacher Organization meeting on Thursday, March 15, and hopes to meet parents there. The school also plans some “meet and greet” events where he can introduce himself as well.