This may settle all the debate...Please Read!

[VolunteerGeneral]

Next year a new school will be opening in Jackson. Madison Academic Magnet School will be open to anyone in Madison County. Once there, you must maintain grades to stay there. The unique thing about this school is that it will be a 1A school. As of now, there will be no football, but will participate in all other sports.

 

This should really put all this whining about unfairness to the test. The school is the county`s answer to private schools. They will be able to draw from a large area and they don`t even have to put forth thousands of dollars to attend. This school is not sitting on the backside of some east Tennessee mountain, nor is it surrounded by tobacco fields in some other remote county. It is smack dab in the middle of Jackson. It`s pretty much going to be like a private school with out the expenses.

 

Will the school be a big success in sports?? I don`t know. But it will have all the advantages that so many on here claim that makes having to play against private schools unfair. I have already heard of some people with kids currently enrolled in private elementary schools who are seriously considering pulling their kids out to send them to this high school when they are old enough. It will definitely be interesting to see how good this school will be in terms of sports.

[Guest 481]

I am not sure how you draw a correlation between a magnet school based on academic excellence with athletic excellence. But I will wait to see how this thread plays out.

[VolunteerGeneral]

Posted by 481:

I am not sure how you draw a correlation between a magnet school based on academic excellence with athletic excellence. But I will wait to see how this thread plays out.

 

For one thing, most all private schools require pre-testing and an above average ability to learn in order to get admitted. If you don`t do well on the entrance exams, they won`t accept you.

[silverpie]

Specifically, when Chattanooga's only magnet school at the time (Arts and Sciences) and the smaller of Nashville's two (MLK) met in the single-A boys basketball final, there were proposals to force magnet schools to play with privates. (In fact, under Texas rules, all three of those schools would have to play AAA hoops, and the likes of Tyner would have to play 5A football!)

[TheEgoHasLanded]

Not as many texas private schools. The Texas schooling is much different from the state of TN. A- the schools are a lot bigger. B- They are nicer, the high schools and middle schools are fairly new, or renovated, they really are beautiful. C- Many of the high schools in Texas bring in thousands of dollars from football gates, denoations, fund-raising, etc. I have easily seen over 50 high schools in Tx, from Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth. Some were in very affluent neighborhoods, and some where located in neighborhoods filled with minorities. I have only seen a handful of private schools, and many people went there for religion, and not because the school was actually better.

[ELA]

First of all... Texas has so many schools they have two different brackets for 5A, 4A, 3A, and so on. Some of the larger schools have $100,000 football budgets plus they fund ALL minor sports! Average salary of a head football coach in Texas is $62,000(+). The private league is a joke and they never compete against the publics. Magnet schools are forced up to the high divisions!

 

Volunteer General makes a good point, but I think all this will do is add a NEW TYPE OF SCHOOL into the mix. This is the first of what Charter Schools will look like and I think it will ADD to the debate instead of ending it. SMALL rural schools are different from the Metro schools, and that is the real difference.

[Edited by ELA on 8-19-02 12:51P]

 

[TheEgoHasLanded]

A friend of mine gave 7,000 dollars a year to Lewisville High School, he was a season ticket holder, he was assigned to the far right section in row 47. That says a lot right there to me.

[VolunteerGeneral]

Posted by ELA:

 

 

Volunteer General makes a good point, but I think all this will do is add a NEW TYPE OF SCHOOL into the mix. This is the first of what Charter Schools will look like and I think it will ADD to the debate instead of ending it. SMALL rural schools are different from the Metro schools, and that is the real difference.

[Edited by ELA on 8-19-02 12:51P]

 

Well thanks for at least saying I made a good point. It`s been awhile since I actually got one!!...

 

This school will have most every ingredient that private schools have except the large tuition which would, in reality, open it up for a lot more kids than private schools can hope to get. If they don`t do well, then it really shoots a hole in the soul of the gripes many have here.

 

LOL...If they do well, then we can start having a public vs public debate!!! Won`t that be fun???

[VolunteerGeneral]

Posted by TheEgoHasLanded:

A friend of mine gave 7,000 dollars a year to Lewisville High School, he was a season ticket holder, he was assigned to the far right section in row 47. That says a lot right there to me.

 

EGO....Surely you are still talking about Texas! Please don`t tell me it is Lewisville TN. :confused:

[TheEgoHasLanded]

Tx...they have a huge astro turf field, its a suburb of dallas.

[ELA]

Posted by TheEgoHasLanded:

Tx...they have a huge astro turf field, its a suburb of dallas.

 

 

My father was a member of the "SIDELINER CLUB" back in the 60's & 1970's. He paid $1000 a year (a lot of money then or now) and received two season tickets and a large Gold Stetson Hat for his annual contribution. There is a huge difference in football in the two states in how they are funded and supported. It is nothing for a Texas 5A school to have three practice fields and a stadium that seats 10,000 people or more. Of course the level of football that was played back then in Texas was as good or better than any you see today in most smaller states (with a few exceptions).

[Bighurt]

In Texas, If I am not mistaken, citixens pay a separate "school" tax in addition to regular property taxes, sales taxes, etc. So, their funding is entirely different. So, ELA is agree with you!