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My children go to school in a rural town in Eastern Oregon. Both are adopted. My oldest daughter was a straight A student, ran for 4 years on the cross country team where she helped them place 5th at state for the first time ever, and was a gifted violinist who competed in the state high school competition for 3 years. Her senior year she started having issues with her adoption, ran away from home and started having trouble at school. I tried to work with the schools to get her help and got no where. Even though she was passing all but one of her classes, but had just missed too many classes, the school kicked her out the right before graduation. So much for no child left behind. It would be one thing if she had been in trouble all through her school years, but not when it was such a dramatic turn around. She received no recognition for all her years of hard work. For a child with self esteem issues all ready, this will have a long term affect. My son has difficulty concentrating in school, also because of adoption issues. They just say he needs to work harder. I contacted the governor's office about the poor schools here, and his assistant's reply was "some people live in those small towns for other reasons than the schools." So I guess this means if you live in a small, rural area, you should just accept the poor school system. I will never vote for another school budget in this area again.

posted 4 years, 9 months ago
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