Today is national “Walk to School Day” which should have special meaning to the Grosse Pointe Public School System.
When so accustomed to certain things, we tend to take them for granted. How many of us stop to think how nice it is that our children don’t have to take the bus to school everyday? How many are thankful that they can walk to school, just a few minutes away, with their children and friends?
True neighborhood schools are one of the absolutely unique features of the Grosse Pointe Public School System, and it’s been that way for decades. Forever. Aside from the convenience and peace of mind this offers, consider also the financial benefit. In districts close to us in size, their annual budgets are stressed by bus expenses. It would probably mean another $3 to $4 million in annual operating cost that we would have to take from our educational expenses.
Very few districts in this state apportion as high a percentage of their total revenue to direct educational expenditures as we do. The fact that we don’t have to bus most of our students is a major reason.
Consider also that great planning must go into maintaining our neighborhood school structure. As districts like Farmington and Bloomfield Hills have closed elementary schools, they have done so to derive financial efficiencies. Those economics would apply to any school system. In Grosse Pointe we have not had to take this drastic measure due to sound financial planning.
As parents, we all have some concern about how our local school operates that links back to a financial investment. This is natural. But stop to consider what a little discomfort can do, spread across all schools, that enables us to maintain so many neighborhood schools – that allows us to disregard the efficiencies that could be gained from consolidation.
As with anything, there is a yin and yang to these issues. We need to make sure we acknowledge both sides of these coins.
Enjoy “Walk to School Day,” Grosse Pointe Schools. No district in the state can enjoy it as much as we can. Thankfully.
Brendan