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Please approve Seven Oaks as a charter school.

By Scott Tibbs, December 3, 2015

Note: I sent this letter to Grace College a couple weeks ago.

Dear Mr. Tim Ziebarth,

I have written you before, but I wanted to again encourage the Trustees of Grace College to approve the charter for Seven Oaks Classical School. My wife and I have a three year old son and a one year old son, and we believe that Seven Oaks is the best option to ensure they get the best education possible. Our older son will be starting kindergarten in the fall of 2017.

Classical education has been proven time and again to be an effective means of teaching young people and helping them retain that knowledge. Seven Oaks will provide a rigorous curriculum in math, science, language and history that will be a huge benefit to my sons. Most importantly, Seven Oaks will teach critical thinking (something sorely lacking on our society today) and good citizenship as well as the principles of our constitutional republic. This foundation (in addition to what they get at home) will be an advantage for my sons as they grow and enter adulthood.

I am not against MCCSC. I know for a fact that many young people can and do get (and have gotten) a good education though the local school system. All we as parents are asking is that we have an additional option that will meet our needs more closely. As you well know, all children are different, and that glorious diversity means that different children excel in different environments. Seven Oaks will provide an environment that will greatly benefit my sons. Some children, for example, excel at rote memorization. Even when I attended public schools, memorization of the periodic table, literary works and multiplication tables were common.

The character of the opposition to the charter is instructive as to why you should approve this charter. MCCSC partisans have repeatedly spewed lies and false accusations at Seven Oaks, claiming the school will teach creationism (false), that it is a religious school (false), and that it will discriminate against students (also false).

If we truly do not need an alternative, if there is truly no market for an alternative, then why do MCCSC partisans (including the elected School Board) feel they need to spew lies, deceit, and false accusations? Approving this charter will send a message that liars cannot get their way through their lies, smears and defamation of character. Approving this charter will send a strong message in favor of tolerance, diversity, civility and truth.

Thank you for your time and your attention, and please approve the charter for Seven Oaks Classical School so my two sons can get the best education possible.