The superintendent of Springfield, Norm Ridder recently met with Rex Sinquefield, a school choice advocate. Many people know Rex as someone who cares deeply about the children in the state of Missouri and their education. Although some people may have negative feelings about him, they must just be uninformed. He is working so hard to help fix the troubled public school system in our state. A retired business man, is using his money and his time to do something constructive for the children. While he may face opposition, mainly coming from the teachers unions, his ideas may be reaching some. Norm Ridder, who has previously worked in districts with some form of choice, realizes Sinquefield has a business intelligence that has some merit. Ridder says "What's to gain? A lot. What's to lose? Nothing."
According to KSMU Online "Ridder says he had a fruitful conversation with Sinquefield about how to bring more talented people into teaching. Ridder says it’s possible he’ll meet with Sinquefield again."
Finally, people in the public education sector are opening themselves up to Sinquefield's ideas. Although Ridder may not be completely sold on the school choice idea, he at least acknowledges something has got to give. While many think we should simply keep on going with our schools the way they are, many others, myself included, know big changes need to be made if we want to see the improvement we all hopefully want. Of course, it may be hard for people all over Missouri to understand the devastation some of the schools face when their schools are great. But what about the horrible schools, what about the schools that are deemed unaccredited? I know I would never want my children to attend those schools.
I thank Ridder for being open and I thank Sinquefield for trying to create changes here.
