Byron Middle School

BES and BMS are both, in my opinion, good schools. Are they the best, no of course not. However, I had a child who attended there from Kindergarten through 6th grade and with only a couple of exceptions; the experience was great. She began the gifted program in elementary and was in this through 6th grade as well. Since we lived in Byron, the schools were convenient to our home and so attending extra-curricular activities and volunteering was easy. However, once they move to high school, this change from a 5 to 10 minutes commute into a 20 to 30 minutes commute which defeats, in my opinion, the whole reason to live in a rural area long commutes. This, along with the fact that PCHS is just not up to the same standards as BES and BMS is why we had to, like many parents, make the decision to either drive to Perry, Warner Robins or Macon for private school or leave Byron altogether once they reached high school. We chose to leave. Byron could be a thriving small town but by not building their own high school in Byron where many of the nice subdivisions are located, families move away or avoid Byron altogether because the high school is not ideal. It could be a much better town and generate much more revenue if only the high schools could separate fully. I also feel the elementary and middle sports teams especially those like dance team were based upon who knew who and the moms who were friends with coaches because, in my opinion, at the elementary level, why wouldn't all kids somehow get to participate? Based upon the number of students on free and reduced lunch at the school, many students have not had privileges like dance and gymnastics privately prior to elementary. So why not allow them to learn in the lower grades and save the try out garbage for high school. Just my opinion but it is truly disheartening to see so many girls work hard for the one week they are given only to be rejected when these same girls could be great if they had more than a week to learn. My daughter was in a private dance and gymnastics and I was on a dance team in high school all 4 years and know 100 percent her and a couple other kids who tried out should have been on that team and yet I wasn't in with the coach like the other moms. I know this sounds petty and like sore loser stuff, but it is not. in Fact, it is such a known fact, many moms will not allow their daughters to try for dance team due to the fact that they know it is popularity based. How can this be happening in a public school? I don't believe everyone gets a ribbon for participation however I do believe in grades 1 through 6 or 7 that each kid should have access to activities in order to even know if they are good or not at them and they cannot know this in one week and being judged by people who are definitely showing favoritism.