From Garrett’s dad, Buddy Hampton
I am a single father. I have three children. I worked for the state for 27 years. I’m a retired police officer. If it wasn’t for the Nevada scholarship program, I would have a hard time sending my child to his school.
The Opportunity Scholarship allows me to send my son to a school that teaches him as an individual instead of teaching to the system. For some people, that system works wonders. But for Garrett, that system failed him. Academically he was at the top of his class but emotionally he was not.
All children are different. Some children work great in public school. But other children are sometimes left behind. Public schools teach the majority of students, but when your child is at the top or at the bottom level in learning they sometimes fall through the cracks. So, with his scholarship, it allows me both to send my son to a great school and give me the resources to enhance his education.
My son’s teacher is wonderful. She has the ability to redirect Garrett so that, for instance, when she says, “we need to do a writing assignment and you need to tell me about yourself,” whereas the average student needs to write one or two sentences, she will say, “Garrett, we want you to write five sentences.”
School choice means to me that I’m allowed to send my son to a school that fits him. Each parent is the best barometer for how we teach our children. A school administrator is only with a child for a short amount of time and only sees him or her sporadically. As a parent, I’m with my son all of the time. So I know what works best for him and his education.
