Though this blog is named 'diapers and politics;' the diapers side has obviously overshadowed politics quite a bit. The same is true in my life as well. But I thought I'd throw one in here just for fun.
I made a goal last year to become more involved in my community. I would like to find ways to volunteer and also to become involved in the politics that help shape our city. I am sick of always complaining about stupid things that are done and never doing anything about it. The only thing I have done so far is to join the PTSO. So it is school issues that take the forefront in my mind. I always thought of the PTSO as just planning school activities and fundraisers but we do some much more than that. We talk about issues facing the school at every meeting and we bring complaints to the Board and the city council.
Last November members campaigned (not officially as a group because that is illegal) for the school budget override. We were unsuccessful. Now our school district is facing many many changes. Right now they have a separate teacher and class for music, art, and PE. For next year they are taking away those three classes in all of the elementary schools and putting that responsibility on the core teachers. Since that is taking away teacher prep time that they had during the specialty class, school is getting out earlier. We also have to share our librarian, nurse, and counselor with other schools. This means that a lot of teachers in our district are getting fired this summer. It is sad. I think that in Kindergarten and younger grades it is okay for the teachers to teach the 3 other subjects, but it is the older grades that suffer. We had a 5th grade band and the whole school did a big music program twice a year. There was also a school track team that went to track meets that we won't have next year. Things like that don't seem important, but I think it makes a big difference. I am sure that the core teachers will be able to incorporate a little bit of those subjects into their curriculum, but the kids aren't going to learn nearly as much in those areas.
Other ideas for cutting spending include:
*A 4-day school week - Jake grew up only going to school on Monday through Thursday and he is a big fan. People complain because they don't want to have to find childcare for one day a week, I don't think that is a good reason. I would want to really find out if it makes a difference in the quality of education.
*Half-day kindergarten - Though the girls struggled at the beginning of the year to get used to a full day at school, they are fine now. I can't believe how far they have come. There was a state senator who went on and on in the legislature about how kindegarten was just a day care. I know that he is completely wrong about that. My girls are reading, writing, adding, and subtracting. I can't believe the transformation. The question is: would half-day kindergarten be as effective?
*Shorter school year- I don't know if a few weeks off of the school year would make a big difference, but it almost seems unfair to place the whole burden of this on top of the teachers. They still expect the teachers to be able to teach just as much and to be just as effective.
Who's Responsible?
I don't really know, but I have my theories. Sierra Vista is largely composed of retired people. In fact, we have several age-restricted communities. I don't like that they have so much control over our politics. I do blame them for the failing of the budget override. I think that once you don't have kids in school, you don't care as much anymore. I could be wrong. Also the owner of the Schlotsky's Deli here was a big contributor to the anti-schools campaign slandering it as a tax increase (which it wasn't). We personally don't patronize that establishment anymore.
What are your thoughts? What do you think of having no art, music, or PE until junior high? 4-day school week? Half-day kindergarten? Shorter school year?
What can we do about it?
Timeline
3 years ago
3 comments:
I don't have kids, but I have worked at schools for a couple years. The four day a week program sounds awesome to me. Band/music/track could be after school programs funded by the people who frequent them. If you want your kid in band you pay however much a year for the band teacher who is paid for the couple of hours she/he teaches band. Same thing for track. You pay a fee that pays the coach's salary. If people didn't want to pay for day care on Fridays they could pay for extracurricular activities that are on possibly Friday. Hard economic times cause for changes that aren't always very cool. As for full or 1/2 kindergarten I would assume there is some time of study that would show what level kids are at when they enter 1st grade depending on whether or not they came from full or 1/2 day kindergarten. A lot of my ideas are better easier written than done. I'd definely like to hear parent's take on the matter. -Hannah
I'm impressed that you're so involved. I'm just now starting to feel like I can be involved at the school since my little kids are getting bigger.
I know that our Gov. offices went to a four day work week to try to cut costs. I could see that saving money in transportation, lunchroom and utilities.
Our kids have healthy lifestyles (they learn a lesson about health and then walk for a mile or so) once a week and gym once a week. They have art and music once a week as well I think?
It's the responsibility of the community to support the schools and to fund the schools. If you want a healthy community you need to have a healthy education system. I don't know how to convince old people of that though.
As Hannah said, I don't have kids yet, either. But as a person who works on an industry that fully depends on Music Teachers, Band Directors, and Choral instructors, this makes me truly sad! The issue with paying extra money as Hannah suggested is, it depends how wealthy the community is. There are lots of programs like the YMCA/YWCA that offer athletics that you can pay for, or private music instructors for instruments or voice. But can the people in the community afford these things? When a family is having money issues, the first thing they give up is these extra curriculars. Trust me, my business/job has definitely sufford because of this recession. There are whole bands and orchestras out there that basically function as "homeschool" programs. Maybe some can join these for the lessons of cooperation in a group creating something. Does your state have a minimum music, art, or PE requirement. Our state does have these requirements. How is a teacher ever going to teach a student how to read a music note or propperly use clay if they've never even taken a class in it? What about those teachers who don't quite have those healthy habbits teaching children PE? These extra teachers are just near in dear to my heart. A lot of my friends who are music directors are already having problems finding jobs as it is. Finding that another school is cutting these things is really sad.
Aunt Heather
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