Making every child’s potential a reality

To the editor:

As a member of Nevada’s Education Reform Blue Ribbon Task Force, I appreciate the coverage of Thursday’s meeting (Friday Review-Journal). Unfortunately, James Haug’s reporting left out most of my remarks during and at the conclusion of the meeting.

Is this the time to reform the way we deliver education in Nevada? Beyond any doubt. As countless hours of work and the final report demonstrate, my colleagues and I believe that this work at this time is vital. We voted to send our recommendations forward to Gov. Jim Gibbons to begin the process of enacting real reform.

My concerns about the opening paragraph of the report are based on the fact that Nevadans must work very hard together to make this change, as I stated clearly in my remarks. This is a time to build bridges, not burn them.

What is working in education in Nevada — career and technical education, magnet schools and programs, empowerment model schools and other reforms — should not be deemed a failure. That approach lies at the heart of very serious problems with No Child Left Behind, which I have spent almost 10 years working to change for the better. Nevada must not repeat those mistakes as it moves toward reform.

I am proud to be a Nevadan and will continue my work of 25 years across this country and outside to transform children’s education, health and welfare. The vision of the membership association I now serve is a beacon in this effort and all the others: Making every child’s potential a reality.

Let’s build on what works. We cannot afford to throw any of that away.

Alison J. Turner

Las Vegas

The writer is president of the Nevada Parent Teacher Association.