Our schools aren't failing our kids. We are

A visit to one of our community's elementary schools last week makes me want to send a note home with every child:

"Dear parent,

"The schools are doing more than should ever be expected to educate your child.

"If you want success, it's up to you."

Everybody says we have failed schools. We don't.

If the schools are failing, parents are failing. And children are leaving themselves behind.

I went to Bluffton Elementary School on Tuesday to write about the "swine flu" vaccinations.

Signs were everywhere that our schools are pushing, prodding, coddling, encouraging, welcoming the children -- not failing them.

Each child entering the school sees picnic tables painted the bright school colors -- red, yellow and blue. They pass a bird feeder and weather observation station in a tiny, but neat front yard.

Before they walk up the sidewalk, they see literal signs of high expectations. Large signs read: "Positive," "Resourceful," "Respectful," "Effort," "Dependable" and "Independent Learner." A sign facing the parking lot says: "Serious Learners Only Beyond This Point."

Inside, the hallways are quiet, clean and filled with student artwork with a Lowcountry theme.

This sense of stability is amazing when you realize 900 students are crammed into a building designed for 500. That's not the school's fault. The school district has yet to issue a single building permit.

One of the two parent volunteers helping with the vaccinations said she comes to the school almost every day. She often eats lunch in her daughter's classroom so the teacher can get a break. Many students eat in their classrooms because the cafeteria cannot handle them all.

It helped when the $19 million Red Cedar Elementary opened nearby. And within a month, hundreds of the youngest students (they start coming to school at age 4 now) will move next door to the brand new Bluffton Early Childhood Center, where shiny red playground equipment looks ready for duty. Another one will open soon at M.C. Riley Elementary on the other side of town. Construction cost for each is $10.1 million.

Beaufort County citizens have approved school bond referenda time and again. We're approaching the half-billion-dollar mark for new schools, renovations, additions and technology upgrades. For example, we just spent $9.8 million for a performing arts center at Beaufort High School.

Our school district has employees who work with preschools and parents before children are school age. They sometimes work with mothers