In the July 3rd edition of the Waterford Post in the opinion section, I had 4 teachers reply to my letter to the editor about how the house system is working. One writer chose to question my facts and in her own “persuasive writing” was able to confirm many of the concerns I have as a taxpayer. The biggest concern is the reduced number of student the teachers have each day.
The writer of this opinion piece argues that they don’t have an extra prep period but rather a common planning time. What ever it is called it is not time with students. They already have at least one early release day per month for meetings that use to be held after school.
I have been very careful not to criticize the teachers or their abilities or their concern for the students. My beef is with the administration and past school boards. They have ignored WGSD Policy 343.2 Class Size Goals. They have chosen the house system that guarantees that more teachers are required at an added cost to the taxpayers. I estimate the addition cost is between $250,000 and $500,000. If the superintendent is looking for a place to trim the budget, I suggest here.
I provided to the Waterford Post a spreadsheet with data backing up my information. I obtained the test scores from the WSAS, WKCE and WAA Combined from the DPI website. Other data was obtained from the administration. You can find the spreasheet below.
One area that is misleading is the number of teachers employed by the school district. Many special ed. teachers have been transferred to special ed. consortium but they are still paid for by the WGSD.
The writer also suggests I need to spend time at Fox River Middle School. The principal will confirm that I made arrangements to visit on one of my few vacation days to work with the TAG students on the candidate’s forum. I have also presented Electrical Engineer as a career at the high school. I don’t see teachers or administration coming to my place of employment to learn about high tech careers.
The writer might want to provide the paper with student/teacher ratios (using FTEs), class sizes, and number of aids or cost per student and let the taxpayers decide if those are reasonable numbers. The only numbers I did see was the 17 seventh graders and 20 eighth graders that have RTI needs. This is about 2 per classroom. I don’t believe that this is unreasonable.
I do question why 10% of our students need RTI (Response to Intervention). The curriculum director has spent a lot of time mapping out what should be taught and when to help with the WKCE scores. Some might call this teaching to the test. Still our scores continue to fall.
Second problem is that you need more classrooms. You may have heard about some students that are being taught in the basement. If you get the class sizes back to the right size, the basement classrooms would not be needed except for classes that need special rooms.
OK if you are an “advocate for education” you might feel this is a small price to pay for “the children.” That said, I don't believe that the house system providing the results they where looking for.
For 3 straight years, the DPI measurement of Advanced + Proficient students has declined from 88.8% in November of 2005 down to 85.0% in the most recent tests last November. That includes declines of 4% in Science and Social Studies this past year alone. I understand that the house system has only been in place for 2 years, but the house system has not changed the trend.
When the administration says there is nowhere to cut the budget, I see this as a huge cost burden. I believe that we had to add 20% more teachers in the Middle School because of the House System. It is time to scratch this costly program and examine our curriculum.
Regards,
Paul Beyerl
Former WGSD Board Member
CLICK ON "wta" TO OPEN THE SPREAD SHEET....or you can scroll side/side - up/down.
24 Minimum MS Class Size
27 Average MS Class Size
30 Maximum MS Class Size
5 Classes as normal load
120 Minimum number of students taught per teacher
135 Average number of students taught per teacher
150 Maximum number of students taught per teacher
384 Minimum Number MS Students for House System
432 Average Number MS Students for House System
357 2008-2009 MS Enrollment
22.3125 2008-2009 MS Class Size
89.25 2008-2009 Students taught per teacher
51.26% Additional Teachers need because of fewer students being taught.
9 comments:
Thanks for your insight on this Paul. Keep up the good work. I hope to see you run for the High School Board in April - Mary - Rochester
Nice work on this. I also would like to see you run for the High School board. They definately need to be reigned in.
Janet
Paul-
Thank you for investing all your time and energy to collect the facts to drive for improvement in the delivery of education. Please run for the High School Board next April. We need someone like yourself with a sense responsibility/accountability to the students and the community. We are severely lacking the leadership needed to set clear and concise expectations with the ability to hold folks accountable for falling short. We can no longer support all the waste and expect to deliver quality education.
Susan Skalla
Dear Paul,
As a taxpayer in Waterford and parent of a future WGSD student (she'll be in kindergarten this fall) I'm also concerned about taxes in the district. However, I'm confused about your comment on the middle school's HOUSE system. The writer of the article in the post(who works in the school and should know) said that this is not the second, but the first year of the HOUSE system. If the students took the state tests in November, aren't you judging these scores on only 2 months of education in contrast to the previous 7 years of education they received in a non-house system setting? I find your accusations to be a bit too abrupt and I disagree with your view. I want my child to have fewer students in her class. Teachers can do a much better job when they are not overwhelmed - and 30 kids in a class is just plain ridiculous. What do your numbers say...something like 120 students is the average load of students for each teacher? That sounds like a lot when you consider teachers keeping up with each individual student's progress.
I understand where you're coming from - taxes in this town are high - but if my children will receive a better education as a result, then I'm willing to pay the price.
Dear Anonymous,
I also was willing to pay for my children's education. I sent them to private schools. If you think paying more money and smaller class sizes will equate to better education, please try the private school route.
Class size is a minor factor when looking at education. Many schools in Europe have 50 to 60 students in a class and still out preform the US schools.
Our school district will not even allow a strong phonics program as a pilot program. It has been shown to out preform whole language and balanced reading programs. Why do they choose to insist on these poor programs?
You will be happy to know that the earlier class grades only have 16 to 20 students. If the district wanted, they could change their policy to reduce the class sizes. We have a student/teacher ratio of about 12/1. The problem is that the teachers are not teaching all day.
Since you feel your child will be best served in a small class and you want to spend more money on your child, please consider the private school option.
Good luck taking on this guy at the high school! Nice that he is encouraging us to send our kids to a privatate school when our school system is GREAT and has GREAT teachers!
If you can't see the dozens of constructive ideas and suggestions here...I'm sorry, but we can't help you.
What is not constructive about trying to privatize some services to save money...and maybe use that money toward furthering education? If a cleaning service can do the job for much less than district employees...why not explore it!
What is wrong with questioning 4% raises in the worst economic time of a generation...when most everyone else is having their wages cut and/or hanging on to their employment by an economic thread?
What is not constructive with suggesting the possibility of exploring other insurance options?
Why shouldn't we look at other options...why shouldn't district employees contribute toward their insurance???
What is wrong with suggesting the district take a close look at all of the many, many support positions to see if they are all necessary and/or if some of the support positions can be combined, eliminated, reduced to part-time, etc.
We have said many times in this venue that WE RESPECT AND APPRECIATE THE GOOD JOB THE WGSD ADMINISTRATION, PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS ARE DOING educating the children!!!!!
However, that doesn't mean that we and others shouldn't be able to question the use of taxpayer resources.
The only attacks I see on here come from people like you who offer absolutely NO suggestions when it comes to spending the district resources responsibly.
Not only are many of the ideas presented here completely constructive, they are no brainers.
We certainly respect your right to disagree with anything on this site, but we are not the name callers tossing out dishonest rhetoric.
Excuse me...which ones were no-brainers? The suggestion that all teachers be required to live in the Waterford area or that we eliminate all secretaries because principals can answer their own phones? Seriously?
Paul didn't give any serious suggestions, other than reducing the student/staff ratio at the middle school. Does he have any idea what the research says on this matter? I suspect not.
Where are the other suggestions? Please...list them!
It's one thing to question and make legitimate recommendations. It's another to bitch and complain with no real suggestions.
This board sounds more and more like a bunch of whiny, wing-nut lefties all the time.
Can you read? Here you go.
2 year pay freeze for every WGSD employee and repeal the 4% raise the administrators just received. In the alternative, administrators and principles who are on 12 month contracts could be laid off over the summer for whatever period of time it takes to make up any salary increase.
o All WGSD employees should be required to contribute 15% - 20% of the monthly health insurance premiums paid for by the taxpayers.
o Find a cheaper health insurance company than the WEAC insurance.
o Impose $1000 individual and $2500 family – out of pocket - annual insurance deductibles for every district employee (for those eligible for insurance).
o Eliminate all Aides. You have more than enough teachers to get the job done!
o Each of the schools are bloated with janitorial / grounds keeping staff. Eliminate all but one janitorial position (he can do grounds keeping too). Administrators, principals and teachers should be expected to clean (sweep / vacuum / mop etc.) their own work areas and take out their own garbage. At least one of the schools employs four janitors and one grounds keeper!!!!
o Another alternative would be to hire a cleaning service. Eliminate the janitorial staff and contract with a private cleaning company to clean the buildings. There would be significant savings by being able to forgo health insurance premiums, retirement costs, etc.
o Do we really (come on) need “guidance counselors” in grade school and middle school?
o Do we really need Library media specialists, library aides and technology curriculum integrators in our schools?
o How many classes does a teacher teach in the day. Do we need both a 7th Grade Science teacher and an 8th Grade Science teacher? Can’t one “science teacher” teach both 7th and 8th grade science?
o Eliminate all travel and conferences that require overnight travel or are out of state.
o Eliminate any district funded teacher/staff luncheons, parties, etc.
o Sell off some of the current land owned by the district. I realize there is some ridiculous DPI guideline suggesting that every school have 30 acres, but it is just that – ridiculous. How is a school better, educationally, if it has 30 acres v. 5 or 10 acres? The land, for example, to the south of Trailside between the school and the Pharmacy Station would be a great location for a small business or office building. There is plenty of green space behind Trailside for the kids to play. We don’t NEED all of this extra valuable acreage. Sell it!
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