LAUSD really does it this time

[gategrrl]

Here's what I'm talking about with the LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District)--yesterday, the school board voted on what to do with the stimulus money they've been granted by the state:

What they did was this:

Los Angeles school district officials moved forward Tuesday with plans to lay off more than 5,000 teachers, counselors, custodians, clerks and other employees, but the battle over funding will rage on for weeks -- affecting who goes, who stays and what schools and classrooms will look like for students next year.

[snip]

The board action affects about 3,500 newer teachers who have yet to earn tenure protections as well as administrators, nursing staff, library aides, computer programmers and others.

The teachers will lose positions as a result of larger classes, which could rise from 20 to 24 students in the early grades. Sixth-grade classes would rise to 35 students. The average high school class would be larger still.

*****
The bolding is mine.

I'll have to wait and see how this affects Little Guy's school. See, our school system is very top-heavy, so I've been told, with tons of money usually going to admin in LA while the schools themselves and the teachers don't have enough cash for school programs like Art, Music and other fun stuff. You know, the stuff that made school life bearable when my generation was in school? The stuff that the wonderful Baby Boomers benefited from? (I'm a 1965 baby, so am right at the tail-end of that)

Yeah. Mermaid is NOT staying in a school when the classes get that large (they're already at 35 children per class, average, in Middle School).

Comments

[ladyjax.livejournal.com]

Anyone who complains that there's not enough teachers or that their kids are doing poorly in schools needs to understand what's going on in their city with this kind of dickering.

I can't see firing teachers but by God, I can see laying off an administrator or two.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah. The home office should take major pay cuts. Give principals more autonomy. Not all schools will do equally well (not all principals are equally good) BUT at least more decisions will be made where they need to be made; at the school level.

Teachers have been telling me for YEARS now how they have to teach to the test; how they wish could actually *teach* to the kids; how it's difficult to pay attention to every single child when there are so many of them in one class.

It's a huge FAIL when it comes to the government run school system. Monolithic systems break down. And when they do, it happens like a giant, squashing all the little people beneath it. And those little people are the kids and their parents, who have put their faith in the system.

[sars.livejournal.com]

That kind of thing makes me so sad. Really feel sorry for you guys. The very idea of class sizes that big is just horrific. That's no way to learn well.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

It is sad, and scary.

[nialla]

The Dallas ISD had a huge controversy that started last year. Basic story was an "accounting error" had misrepresented what they had, and after fixing it, they were pretty much in the toilet for any funds.

Everyone was calling for the Superintendent to be fired or resign, but he's still there. He did take a "reduction in pay" that annually equals more than what many people I know make.

Meanwhile, hundreds of teachers and others were fired and I'm pretty sure classes were enlarged.

I heard a tidbit on the news about many school districts going to a four day a week schedule. In theory, it saves the school money on fuel costs and the like. But how many parents are now having to pay more for daycare an extra day? It's just passing the buck for the parents to pay their school taxes and for daycare when school's not open.

It's insane all around, and will hurt the students later on. They're already handicapped with so many sporting the "someone else will take care of it for me" attitude.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

We're VERY lucky in that I am able to stay home with the kids and do whatever we need, but you're absolutely correct: when the government (ie school boards) start shutting down the schools for lack of funds...it's worse than you realize, really, when you dig into the history of government-led schooling.

There's a book a teacher wrote called "Dumbing Us Down". Very interesting read.

[aostara.livejournal.com]

I don't think the Long Beach district is quite as bad (yet), but I guess I just need to suck it up and deal with it re: keeping A in private schools as long as we can. Sigh. Good thing I'm going to start having a bit of rental income from my place in Downey soon.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

We would love to send Mermaid to private school, but honestly, unless it has a different structure than the public school, with a lot more individual attention, we'd have the same situation to deal with (meaning, she'd try and get away with not doing her work).

Besides. PS is *expensive*. And that's just the tuition; not including the extra expenses like food, uniforms, after school clubs, etc.

[aostara.livejournal.com]

We've been lucky so far... Long Beach has quite a few private schools with no uniforms and such (Montesorri, for example)... and few kids per class, so each child gets checked up on re: getting work done on a daily basis. So far it's only been $475 a month for tuition + $75/month for extended care (7am to 6pm). We send him with a sack lunch, and the tuition covers snacks at recess and after school.

Re: public school options - do you have any charter schools near you? Those seem to be a good option for $0 tuition, if you can find one and get on the waiting list in a timely manner.

[gategrrl.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's not that bad. Hillcrest, the biggest private school around here, has a yearly tuition of around $11-12,000/year.

I don't think Monty has middle school classes. Hm. If it's only that much a year, maybe we'll consider it, though.

[aostara.livejournal.com]

Sadly, they only go to 6th grade. We're looking into what to do re: Middle School around here. Might have to look into Catholic school, if we can find one that gives the non-Catholic kids a pass on all the religious stuff - those are about $3000 for the whole school year in this area. That doesn't include before or after school care, however. Need to check options and prices for all that as well.
And what to do about summer, since neither of us get 3 months off work, sadly.