Public to Board of Education: Are you serious?

Public tells Board of Ed that class sizes matter: Board ignores public and eliminates 13 elementary teachers.

The public session during last night’s Board of Education meeting lasted 49 minutes. Approximately 70 members of the public gathered to watch the proceedings. In general, the comments were made either in support of specific programs or in support of teacher retention and small class sizes.

Several individuals spoke on behalf of the Upward Bound program, which had not been targeted for elimination. Roberta Avery, a Farm Hill Teacher responsible for the Probe Program, confirmed her retirement and argued that the Board should NOT eliminate the other Probe position (Probe is Middletown’s gifted education program). She urged the Board not to lose sight of the high-end learner because they can be at risk too.

Mr. James Gaudreau, the Snow School Principal, stated that research has definitively proven the value of small elementary class sizes in supporting early literacy development. Specifically, class sizes of 16-18 students give teachers the ability to differentiate their instruction methods to accommodate their students’ different learning styles. Class sizes upwards of 22-25 students means teachers don’t have this time, and at-risk children run the risk of falling in between the cracks. Small class sizes are especially critical now that there have been enormous gains on recent CMTs for elementary reading: it would be a crime to stop those positive gains now. Mr. Gaudreau also stated that while he and the other elementary school principals support the Probe Program, there may be ways to restructure the program or to brainstorm about how to make the program even better.

Elizabeth Nocera, grants coordinator, spoke on behalf of the 21st Century Program: the $30,000 Board of Education support allows a much larger program to leverage a number of grants. Of the 197 students attending for more than 30 days, there was significant data to support the program’s positive impact on participants’ homework completion, skill base, and motivation to do well in school. Parents were also survey regarding this program (with an 80% return rate on the survey), and 100% replied that the 21st Century program supported their ability to stay employed without worry for their children’s safety.

The remaining comments focused on the importance of small class sizes, the value of protecting our investment in our teachers, and the importance of the Board having established funding priorities to guide what cuts had to be made. One parent, recently relocated from California, spoke of the struggle there to REDUCE class sizes, and how she couldn’t understand why we’d want to give up something we already have. She stated that Middletown’s current small class sizes are a huge advantage, and that we risk traveling down a slippery slope if we start to chip away at those class sizes. Others challenged the Board to cut from the top down (meaning front office salaries and other “top heavy” budget items) to protect the children at all costs.

From my own perspective as a parent of a 3rd grader and a kindergartener, I could not believe I heard Superintendent Michael Frechette say that there was no educational philosophy behind his budget: he was told to cut $2.5 million dollars out of the budget, so that’s what he did. Let me clean my ears out and listen to that again…yep, our Superintendent, the man with the Phd in whatever he has a Phd in, flatly admitted that he just cut the budget without thought to what he was doing to the basic structure of our school system. Never mind all the money the District just spent on training curriculum supervisors (those positions were cut), or that the Board just hired JCJ Architecture to do a Feasibility Study to solve several problems, including the overcrowding at Moody School, but then didn’t leave any physical room in class sizes to accommodate any recommended changes (cutting 13 elementary teachers and consolidating classrooms now forces overcrowding issues on EVERY elementary school instead of just Moody and Laurence and Spencer).

In all fairness, when pressed on his priorities, Frechette stated that he didn’t want any of the cuts, but that he was told to cut $2.5 million, so he did. That’s where my sympathy for this whole process ends. There was no leadership demonstrated last night from either the Superintendent or the Chairman of the Board of Education. Apparently the $2,000-$3,000 stipends paid Assistant Athletic Coaches are more important than the jobs of 13 elementary teachers and small class sizes at the elementary level. Despite comment after comment last night in SUPPORT of the known value of small class sizes and Middletown’s own CMT scores to prove the same, the BOE mechanically voted to support the Superintendent’s budget with minor exceptions (detailed coverage below).

Pardon me, but what on earth are we doing here (cursing omitted out of respect for readers’ delicate sensibilities…)? If I were REALLY cynical, I might be tempted to think that there’s a nefarious plan afoot to force the Common Council to give the Board more than a 2% increase budget increase (remember that 5.61% is needed for funding at the same level as this year) by using parental sensitivity to teachers and class sizes as bait. If that were true, last night was just a huge waste of everyone’s time because the real budget won’t come together until the very last minute when the town, state and federal funding levels are known.

I cannot understand how this method of governing is acceptable to anyone. Never mind President Obama’s challenge to his OWN party to be more transparent, efficient, and responsible, or his goal to increase the number of children attending college by 2020. Last night’s meeting was about political posturing, and not about our children or what’s most important for the school system as a whole. When given the opportunity, our Superintendent didn’t stand up and say this is what we need to give our children the best with what we have: instead, he hid behind the Board’s mandate to cut the budget and passed responsibility to someone else. The Chairman of the Board didn’t stand up and say that what Frechette proposed was philosophically unacceptable – go back and do it again…Mr. Chairman ALSO passed the responsibility off to someone else. Now, the Common Council is put in the position of allocating funding for a budget can’t actually control.

Where is the leadership we’re paying for (the Superintendent’s nice fat salary) or the leadership we’ve elected (the Board of Education)? It’s our money and children these people are casually playing with, and shame on us for letting it happen this way. Could you as a parent cut your grocery bill to force your employer to give you a raise? No – you have to live within your means (or you’re supposed to anyway, don’t let the possibility of credit card debt wreck my analysis here…).

The Middletown Schools Mission Statement reads:

The mission of the Middletown Public Schools is to enable all students to achieve at their highest potential by challenging them through a system structured around a common core of knowledge, skills, values, and a variety of educational experiences. Through partnerships with family and community, our schools will promote the pursuit of lifelong learning, responsible citizenship and decision making in a culturally diverse world.

Three lonely Republicans, and every now and then one Democrat, tried during last night’s budget discussions to uphold the philosophy represented in this mission statement. Funny, though, there’s nothing in the mission that says anything about politics. In fact, this mission statement HAS to be apolitical because we’re supposed to be modeling the behavior we are trying to teach our children. Why then, should we even bother putting this statement on the bottom of the agenda if the adults in the room aren’t going to follow it? What responsible citizenship and decision making was demonstrated last night? If we don’t do it, how can we expect our children to learn it?

President Lincoln once commented: “In times like the present men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.” That we have a Superintendent and a Board of Education Chairman who, in a time of extreme budget conditions, would willingly put 13 elementary teachers’ jobs on the line (and thus the very foundation of education in our town), makes me doubt very seriously the value of those individuals in their present jobs.

Our children are counting on us to do better than this.