Last week I felt compelled to write to the Akron Beacon Journal in response to an article detailing the School Board's proposal for cuts should the vote for the levy fail on May 2nd. Here's the text of my letter, with the article posted below. You'll notice the School Board president, Revd Curtis Walker, ends his interview with "We're trying to be fair", which is interesting, because what he really means is 'fair to the employees of the School Board' (the office building itself reminds me of the communist police station we used to have to report to in the 1970s when we were visiting Hungary, with attitudes to match). He certainly doesn't mean 'fair to the children who attend these schools'.
Letter to the Akron Beacon Journal
I moved to Akron from the UK five years ago and have three children, all of whom attend Akron Public Schools. Since coming here, I have been impressed by the high degree of commitment and skill shown by teaching staff and the enthusiasm and dedication of parents in their support of their children. I am convinced that my children receive a far better all-round education at Akron Public Schools than they would have done if we had remained in the UK. I am also convinced that the high quality of teaching in the areas of music and the arts, particularly at elementary level, has been an integral part of the social and academic formation of my children, sparking in them a lively and growing interest in all aspects of the curriculum, as well as in the world around them.
I am concerned therefore to learn that deep cuts are on the table should the voters reject the operating levy on May 2. A rejection of the operating levy will inevitably be interpreted as a vote of no confidence in the excellent work done by the teachers in Akron’s Public Schools. More than this, a rejection of the operating levy will also represent a vote of no confidence in the future of our children and, by extension, in the future of the community in which they live.
In a time when so much threatens to undermine our communities, I ask that voters consider the future of the children of Akron and vote for high quality community-based education. Voting to accept the operating levy on May 2 will be a lesson our children won’t find in their textbooks, but will be a lesson about the positive power of the ballot box which they will never forget.
Schools double teacher job cuts
By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
The Akron school board Monday night more than doubled the number of teachers to be cut in the next school year.Instead of 14 teaching jobs being eliminated, 33 will be axed.These were among $23 million in reductions approved by the board Monday -- most that were previously outlined in the district's latest five-year budget.Board members say the next round of cuts will be much more painful. They distributed a list of reductions that will be made if voters reject a 7.9-mill operating levy on the May 2 ballot.These cuts include personnel from all areas, school closures and the reduction or elimination of athletics and extra-curricular activities. Also on the chopping block are the visual and performing arts program at Firestone High School, Advanced Placement classes and elementary art and music.``We want the public to know the seriousness of the situation we're in,'' said the Rev. Curtis Walker, the board's president.Board members discussed the budget cuts in a closed-door session Monday that lasted about 45 minutes. Walker then read a prepared statement and the board unanimously approved the reductions without further comment or discussion.``If Issue 1 does not pass, the personnel cuts will continue,'' Walker said of the district's levy.Most of the cuts for the 2006-07 school year were in the five-year budget that board members signed off on last August and a revised budget they approved in December. These included eliminating five administrators, 10 custodians, four secretaries, one librarian and various supplemental contracts.The reductions correspond with the closings of Central-Hower High and Hotchkiss Elementary at the end of the current school year.Besides the increase in teaching positions, board members voted to cut two educational assistants that were not previously axed. They also increased the number of guidance counselors that will be eliminated from two and a half to three.The board shaved an extra$1 million out of the budget by delaying textbook purchases.The bulk of the savings -- $18.5 million -- will come from an accounting change that defers some expenses until the following year.The cuts approved Monday will leave the district with a balanced budget at the end of the 2006-07 school year. The reductions will also decrease the district's projected deficit in the following school year from nearly $40 million to about $33 million.The revised reductions will be included in a new, five-year budget that the board has not yet approved.Issue 1, the district's continuing levy, would raise about $23.7 million annually and cost the owner of a $100,000 home roughly $242 a year.If voters do not approve additional property taxes for Akron this year, the district will have to make cuts to balance its budget or face state takeover.Board members estimate that the reductions outlined Monday for the 2007-08 school year would save between $6 million and $9 million. More cuts would be needed beyond this to balance the budget.``This is where we start,'' Superintendent Sylvester Small said.William Siegferth, president of the Akron Education Association, doesn't expect any teacher layoffs in the next school year. He thinks the teaching reductions will be taken care of through retirements.``We hate to see this at all, but this seems to be a manageable number that attrition might be able to overcome,'' he said.Siegferth, however, was upset by the list of planned cuts for the following school year, which he thinks unfairly hit teachers.``The practice of taking the lion share of cuts to teaching staff year after year has to be spread out,'' he said. ``This hasn't been commiserate of administrators.''Walker, however, said board members have tried to be equitable in the trims. He said the cuts approved Monday represent a 1 percent reduction in teachers but an 8 percent decrease in administrators.``We're trying to be fair,'' he said.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14093909.htm
Letter to the Akron Beacon Journal
I moved to Akron from the UK five years ago and have three children, all of whom attend Akron Public Schools. Since coming here, I have been impressed by the high degree of commitment and skill shown by teaching staff and the enthusiasm and dedication of parents in their support of their children. I am convinced that my children receive a far better all-round education at Akron Public Schools than they would have done if we had remained in the UK. I am also convinced that the high quality of teaching in the areas of music and the arts, particularly at elementary level, has been an integral part of the social and academic formation of my children, sparking in them a lively and growing interest in all aspects of the curriculum, as well as in the world around them.
I am concerned therefore to learn that deep cuts are on the table should the voters reject the operating levy on May 2. A rejection of the operating levy will inevitably be interpreted as a vote of no confidence in the excellent work done by the teachers in Akron’s Public Schools. More than this, a rejection of the operating levy will also represent a vote of no confidence in the future of our children and, by extension, in the future of the community in which they live.
In a time when so much threatens to undermine our communities, I ask that voters consider the future of the children of Akron and vote for high quality community-based education. Voting to accept the operating levy on May 2 will be a lesson our children won’t find in their textbooks, but will be a lesson about the positive power of the ballot box which they will never forget.
Schools double teacher job cuts
By Stephanie Warsmith
Beacon Journal staff writer
The Akron school board Monday night more than doubled the number of teachers to be cut in the next school year.Instead of 14 teaching jobs being eliminated, 33 will be axed.These were among $23 million in reductions approved by the board Monday -- most that were previously outlined in the district's latest five-year budget.Board members say the next round of cuts will be much more painful. They distributed a list of reductions that will be made if voters reject a 7.9-mill operating levy on the May 2 ballot.These cuts include personnel from all areas, school closures and the reduction or elimination of athletics and extra-curricular activities. Also on the chopping block are the visual and performing arts program at Firestone High School, Advanced Placement classes and elementary art and music.``We want the public to know the seriousness of the situation we're in,'' said the Rev. Curtis Walker, the board's president.Board members discussed the budget cuts in a closed-door session Monday that lasted about 45 minutes. Walker then read a prepared statement and the board unanimously approved the reductions without further comment or discussion.``If Issue 1 does not pass, the personnel cuts will continue,'' Walker said of the district's levy.Most of the cuts for the 2006-07 school year were in the five-year budget that board members signed off on last August and a revised budget they approved in December. These included eliminating five administrators, 10 custodians, four secretaries, one librarian and various supplemental contracts.The reductions correspond with the closings of Central-Hower High and Hotchkiss Elementary at the end of the current school year.Besides the increase in teaching positions, board members voted to cut two educational assistants that were not previously axed. They also increased the number of guidance counselors that will be eliminated from two and a half to three.The board shaved an extra$1 million out of the budget by delaying textbook purchases.The bulk of the savings -- $18.5 million -- will come from an accounting change that defers some expenses until the following year.The cuts approved Monday will leave the district with a balanced budget at the end of the 2006-07 school year. The reductions will also decrease the district's projected deficit in the following school year from nearly $40 million to about $33 million.The revised reductions will be included in a new, five-year budget that the board has not yet approved.Issue 1, the district's continuing levy, would raise about $23.7 million annually and cost the owner of a $100,000 home roughly $242 a year.If voters do not approve additional property taxes for Akron this year, the district will have to make cuts to balance its budget or face state takeover.Board members estimate that the reductions outlined Monday for the 2007-08 school year would save between $6 million and $9 million. More cuts would be needed beyond this to balance the budget.``This is where we start,'' Superintendent Sylvester Small said.William Siegferth, president of the Akron Education Association, doesn't expect any teacher layoffs in the next school year. He thinks the teaching reductions will be taken care of through retirements.``We hate to see this at all, but this seems to be a manageable number that attrition might be able to overcome,'' he said.Siegferth, however, was upset by the list of planned cuts for the following school year, which he thinks unfairly hit teachers.``The practice of taking the lion share of cuts to teaching staff year after year has to be spread out,'' he said. ``This hasn't been commiserate of administrators.''Walker, however, said board members have tried to be equitable in the trims. He said the cuts approved Monday represent a 1 percent reduction in teachers but an 8 percent decrease in administrators.``We're trying to be fair,'' he said.
http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/14093909.htm
posted by Jamie at 10:45 AM
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