In the June 19th edition of the Waterford Post, the writer asked how well the house system is working. The house system is set up to co-locate students in four major classes. The idea is that students would have less of a chance of falling through the cracks. There is an emphasis on having teachers communicating with each other about the students in their house.
When this program was proposed, I voted against it. The school district has set up guidelines for class size. The middle school class size is suppose to be between 24 and 30 or an average of 27. The minimum size for the middle school should be 384 students, 4 classes X 4 houses (2 in 7th and 2 in 8th grade) times the minimum class size of 24. Using the average class size of 27 students, the middle school should have 432 students. At the time Fox River had 354 students and the following year it went down to 331 and 357 students last year. This means that the class rooms have an average class size of 22.3 which does not meet the school board minimum size.
Having too few students in a class room has had two negative results. First, the district had to hire more teachers. With the house system, teachers are given an extra prep period. In the past a teacher would have 5 classes of 27 students or 135 students. With the current house system, they have about 90 students per day. This is only 2/3 of the students.
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
5 comments:
I agree with Paul, this program isn't working and our test scores continue to fall!
Now, we finally have some real leadership on the board with Poole, Jensen, and Schwartz!!! Keep up the great work!
Brenda W.
This does need a serious look....4 teaching periods (less than an hour each) in a day....sign me up for this cushy 8 month a year, 4 hour a day "full-time" job.
Janet
I did a little research before responding (just like I did before moving to this community), unlike the Bobsy Twins, Brenda and Janet, or Paul Beyrel.
First, and most of the additional teachers hired were to give more choices to students in the related arts areas, including Spanish (which is mandatory), music, and art. Maybe Paul believes we should just teach math and science, but all other research indicates otherwise. Do we want mediocre kids, or do we want our kids well-rounded with options at their disposal?
While the equivalent of an additional 1.5 teachers were hired in content areas to make the house system work, this is not a tremendous cost.
Further, heading into 2009-2010, your "real leadership" solved the problem of a teacher leaving by not doing anything at all. Yes, rather than even try to find a creative solution, they shoved off the decision on others in Obama-like fashion. Outstanding leadership, indeed!
Four teaching periods? The regular teacher at Fox River teaches six class periods a day, in addition to one team-meeting time and one individual prep time. And while Paul would love to suggest that the two non-teaching periods have been party-time, that is simply not the case according to a couple of teachers with whom I spoke. One said that they actually felt overwhelmed with the amount of work they had done in student services and curriculum, while the other listed off the initiatives worked on during that time and the list was staggering. Just because you don't believe it doesn't make it true, but education has apparently become a much different field than when I was a kid. Go to the middle school and actually observe what's going on and maybe you'll learn something too.
By the way, eight months? You do realize that teachers start in mid-August and work through mid-June, which is ten months. And the teachers I've also spoken with either have already been back at school (in one case, for several days) or has plans to come in during early August to work. They might not work a full twelve months, but they don't get paid a ton either...at any rate, Janet makes a useless argument (or several, as the case may be).
As for WKCE scores, Paul's going to use one year to make a conclusion. And why doesn't Paul report out the math and reading scores? Perhaps because math scores have increased SIX points since 2005 and reading increased ONE point since 2005? Again, must be that "special" brand of leadership.
Here's a better idea...learn about what best practice is for a middle school and what other high quality middle schools in the area are doing. One of the reasons I moved here was the quality schools and compared to our old district (Mequon-Thiensville), WGSD does a fantastic job.
But maybe that's because I'm actually involved in my child's education. Brenda, Janet, and Paul just like to use tired old arguments that are both faulty and out-dated.
Anon 7:43 am....WGSD blogging again? You forgot to add the 2 weeks off at Christmas time, and 1 week each at Thanksgiving and Easter. I'm sure the list was staggering...or was it whining?
To the teacher that would not leave his/her name:
I have all of the scores for 4th and 8th grade in my spreadsheet. We are in the third year of declining scores when all subjects are added together.
I do believe that the main subjects should have more attention than spanish and feel good subjects.
I choose not to name call, but rather post the data that is assumed to be the standard from the DPI. You might call this homework.
I know that $250,000 to $500,000 may not seem like much to you, but I view it as pork.
The teachers make a great salary for the time that they teach. The also get a health insurance package of $20,000. They often do not contribute to their retirement account because the school district pays over 10% of their salary into their retirement. We could also bring up the tuition reimbursement program.
One item that doesn't get talked about is the heath insurance program the teachers get after they retire. That is the reason many teachers can retire in their 50's when most of the population is not able to retire until they are in their late 60's.
We all know that you have a 180 day per year contact. That includes 8 early release days.
Please replay with the number of students you have during a class day and the subjects you teach.
Regards,
Paul Beyerl
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