Saturday, June 29, 2013

School cuts hurt the children the most

As a taxpayer and parent of three children in the New Bedford school system, I am extremely frustrated with the current situation facing our schools. Our children will directly suffer because of financial mismanagement and political posturing. Our children have not been put first. Over the years I have watched the class sizes continue to rise while the opportunities for advanced classes diminish. My elementary aged children only receive art, music and physical education classes twice a month and that is if there isn't a holiday or snow day. This is far below what most children in the commonwealth receive.

Despite the deficit, our School Committee accepted plans for the new Innovation School. From what I understand, these students will be receiving art, music, and physical education weekly as well as smaller class sizes. This is to serve as an "experiment" to see if it will raise student performance? I think we all know the outcome of that one. If we cannot provide the basics to all of our children then why are we paying for this extra school at all? From an outsider's perspective it seems to me that Gomes will become a building of haves and have-nots.

I have watched the morale drop amongst our teachers who seem to be bearing much of the blame for problems in our system. Teachers are expected not only to each our children everything they need to pass the MCAS exam, but they are also expected to teach their students manners, responsibility and self-discipline, too. They don't get paid for all the extra time they put into their profession outside of the school day. Contrary to what some believe, they do not get paid in the summer! This is money that they have already earned but chose to defer! Because of the hiring process in our city, I have also watched many very dedicated and talented teachers lose out because they did not have seniority when their positions were cut.

From my perspective as a parent, this was the situation before these new drastic cuts. Now our community is faced with the unimaginable. Undoubtedly, classrooms will close and add to the overcrowding in many of our schools. My son will enter first grade in September with a projected class size of 33 students. That would be 33 6-year-olds in one room in a year that will be the foundation for their success with reading. Teachers will be expected to raise student performance in the classroom with larger numbers and fewer resources than they have now. Our children who need more of a challenge in the classroom will continue to receive nothing but will serve as fantastic tutors for those who need extra help! Many have defended the lack of advanced classes in the middle schools and believe that each child can be challenged in a completely blended classroom regardless of the different abilities. I invite them to sit in a classroom for a day and watch a teacher try to fully challenge all 30 kids to reach their highest potential.

My husband and I have always been very proud to be New Bedford High graduates and feel that our education has served us well in life. When people ask me where we will send our daughter after middle school, I always defend our choice to send her to the high school, believing that there are still many opportunities there. Despite the decline in previous years, I have been hopeful that the arts would experience a rebirth so that my children could experience everything that I had when I was a student in the city. These cuts will change everything.

Our teachers and principals have a daunting job ahead of them. I know that many will work hard to offer our kids the best under the current circumstances. But will that be enough? Our children don't get a second shot at their education. For the first time, it saddens me to say that I am not sure that keeping my children in the New Bedford Public Schools District is the right choice for my family.

Lee-Ann Jupin

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is there any way that the Innovation school plan can be put on hold until the deficit is straightened out? Especially given the attitude of the two school committee member who don't seem to want transparency for the school budget--in other words don't want to compromise with ANYBODY OR ANYTHING???

Anonymous said...

What do we have to do to get those 2 removed from the SC before their terms expire? We can't wait for 2016--it hurts too many of our students!

Anonymous said...

Pollock is the same person who ran for school committee saying she would scrutinize the school budget to make sure there was no waste. So what happened Marlene? Were those just words to get elected?

Anonymous said...

Pollock recently said that she doesn't understand the school department budget. The poor thing said she is a community activist, not an accountant – she is a volunteer on the school committee.

What does she smoke? It must not be legal.

Anonymous said...

Marlene it is your job to represent every child, and every school. All you've done so far is suck up to the uia and give the innovation queen a job.

Anonymous said...

Marlene, your hand must smell pretty bad when you take it out of puppet's #######.

Anonymous said...

If the budget is too hard for Marlene and Jack to understand, they should resign to spend more time with their families.

Anonymous said...

I'm confused. If nearly the entire school department's budget comes from state Chapter 70 funding, then how does the city council have the power to withhold money that did not come from the city? Here is a link to the 2013 Chapter 70 funding: http://www.mass.gov/bb/h1/fy13h1/os_13/h3.htm The FY 2014 budget calls for New Bedford to receive $120 mill from the state, even if that ends up being lower it will almost definitely be above the $113 mill of Chapter 70 funding the city received last year. http://www.mass.gov/bb/h1/fy14h1/os_14/h32.htm
Also, why does the temporary Business Manager have the authority to move the percentage of the budget dedicated to salaries from 81% of the budget to 76% of the budget in one year. This 5% of the budget is equal to $5.5 million dollars. So, he believes the students of this city will be better off with 200 fewer teachers so that the money can instead be used to purchase more paper clips and erasers. Why not a gradual approach if the goal is to get to 76% of the budget to be dedicated to salaries, why couldn't this be done over the next few years? Why not year 1 go from 81% to 79%? That $4 mill in salaries would allow the district to keep some of the young teaching talent in the classroom.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the comment about a gradual approach. Normandin lost some great people last week, just the kind of young, energetic teachers you want to help turn a school and district around.

Anonymous said...

The state just awarded more than 100 million to cities and towns in chapter 70 monies. Let's make sure whatever amount New Bedford gets goes directly to reinstating some of the laid off teachers.

The Return of the Watchdog said...

According to WBSM, the schools received $4 million they had not counted on. Let's hope the money is used at the classroom level and to reinstate the academic directors who advocated for their teachers.

Anonymous said...

Teachers, not academic coaches/directors!!!

A laid off teacher said...

http://wbsm.com/state-budget-contains-funding-for-new-bedford-schools-and-more/

Where is this money and WHY hasn't anyone else reported on it? Standard Times?