Venting, which for me doesn't come easy Update 11/14

[mom'sfolly]

I know that alot of schools ended up in the hole this year due to fuel prices, specifically for buses. Think what $4/gallon gas does to running hundreds of school buses when the maximum number put in the budget was $3.

Sorry you're hurting. My sister's home town had a many month long brown out due to losing power lines to an avalanche; the schools, state offices, federal gov't offices and businesses all unscrewed every other light bulb, and the city turned off the street lights after midnight. Hopefully they can combine bus routes, and do other things without cutting jobs.

 

[WriterofWords]

Our bus routes can't really be combined due to the fact that the district is spread out so badly. We are divided into two counties, the Franklin Mts. cut off one side of the district from the other, the buses are assigned to the schools they service and stay in that area. Our school is not in too much danger because our Princ. is very frugal and doesn't over-staff or have a bunch of small classes. We have a couple of new teachers who might be at the bottom of the list if they start bumping, but most of us have been there since the school opened 6 years ago and we have large classes that couldn't be combined.

 

[jackiedon]

Quote:
Not necessary because in AR teachers are state employees but they have to pay 58% of their insurance premiums and other state employees have to pay 30something% which is no way fair and makes me angry but that's the way it is.

Our school won't pay for enough people to tutor students so each teacher has like 20 kids. BUT they take the football team out to eat steak every Friday night before a game, home or away.

jackie

 

[Linda in San Diego]

My district had to RIF many fine teachers last year due to CA budget issues. We may still have drastic cuts coming. I feel for your situation.

I am at a middle school and don't have a single class of less than 41 students. Right now, in one class, I have seats for 40 students, but for two weeks one student was on independent study and I didn't have to worry. He came back today, but 3 students were absent...So if everyone is here tomorrow - I am going to have to figure out where they all go!

Best wishes, I know our school district felt really down last year, and we may go down further if we cut much deeper...

 

[WriterofWords]

I can't begin to express in words how wonderful it feels to have the support of this close-knit community of "Cyber Friends". I know I can get support and empathy on here instead of sympathy and suggestions to go find another job. Thank you all so much and I sure hope all of us in education can ride this out.
Kat

 

[blossom hen]

I do not recall when the article was published, but I do remember reading something about U.S. education being ranked 18 out of 24 industrialized nations. With our states and national governments cutting funding for salaries and general expenses for our school systems, how can we possibly increase our standing internationally? There are many "mandates" issued by government entities regarding "standard tests" to measure the students, but I don't see the funds following to make this possible.

Linda in San Diego, How can you be expected to teach 40+ students per class times however many classes per day you have on your schedule? How can you even manage to grade homework assignments and tests for that many students? When my younger DS was entering K many years ago, my friends who were teachers considered 18 students to be optimal for effective interaction. I transferred DS to a different school system from where I resided in order to get him into a classroom with no more than 20 students/teacher.

Kudos to all who are teaching these days in overpopulated classrooms and without the funds to supply needed materials!

 

[wegotchickens]

Quote:
I'll send you a box of candles. They can light the room while also providing heat for the winter.

Guess you'll have to modify a bator to work by candle power?
'Cause you know they'll be looking to you to provide the eggs & chicken fingers for the school cafeteria....

 

[WriterofWords]

Don't laugh, you might be right! One of my friends who teaches 2nd grade sent out a tongue in cheek letter with a solution to our budget problem and the biggest part of it was my class providing fresh eggs and chicken, but adding beef to use for food and fertilizer so we could turn the playground into a community garden and sell fresh vegetables to supplement the schools income.

 

[birdnutz]

I'm not a teacher but I sure feel for you. Why is it that education is cut first and sports get top priority? The first thing goverment says is education is the key to getting jobs in America. While big business is shipping them overseas.
Our school district is having another school built without a seperate cafeteria. State pays to build but feel that a seperate lunch room is an upgrade. The school board feels this is just terrorable. So they put on the ballot a $1.9 million dollar tax increase to pay for it. Of course it didn't pass.(thank god) It sounds like so many schools are starting to fail that maybe they need to get in touch with reality.
Is there anyway that the comunity could get together and have fund raisers? Simple I know but maybe it could help?

 

[WriterofWords]

All of our elementary schools have "cafetoriums" that serve dual purposes. The middle and high schools have separate facilities. We've had to build so many new schools in the past 5 years to serve the population that is growning so rapidly they can't keep up. I wish I could explain the demographics in writing better on here, but we are what started as a farming district to serve a specific community in the early 1900's. The first school was Valley High, which later became Gadsden High, it is situated about 1.5 miles from Rio Grande River. The community runs from El Paso, TX to Las Cruces, NM, and crosses to the East side of the Franklin Mts. to include Chaparral. Mileage wise we are the largest school district in NM and many other states too. It covers the area of the two largest school districts in El Paso, TX put together.
No Child Left Behind needs either done away with or reformed 99%. We need accountability, but not at this cost.