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

[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.