[NIMC] computers replace teachers

[Allen Ivey]

from my son, Bill, a teacher in Massachusetts. I am sorry to be the consistent bearer of bad news.

Public laments teacher losses

by Kathryn Dobies
kdo...@mdjonline.com

May 13, 2010 12:00 AM | 2380 views | 20  | 22  |  | 

MARIETTA - Before a packed boardroom on Wednesday morning, Cobb County School District parents, students, teachers and former teachers aired their frustrations with the school board about teacher cuts and the closing of the district's alternative high school, Oakwood.

During the 45-minute public comment section of the board's work session, more than 25 people addressed the board.

Dozens of parents and community members representing Allatoona High School wore school T-shirts and carried signs in protest of teacher and coach cuts from the school. Parent Mike Linch, pastor of NorthStar Church in Kennesaw, spoke to the board about their concerns, saying that this week 15 teachers have been fired from the school, 12 of whom were also coaches. 

"What we're asking is that you please remember us when an opportunity comes to reinstate some of the incredible people we lost," Linch said. "For eight hours a day they taught AP Physics, AP History, chaired the business department, English, AP, guidance counselors, taught drafting, all of the other things that are required for our students to graduate. We know we'll get new people to fill those classrooms, that's not the question, it's what they did after the hours. For the next three to five hours a day, 12 of the 15 - seven of them are head coaches - we lost this week, were on ball fields, courts and outside the four walls of our school teaching the principles that will get them through life ... They were our guard rails - our guard rails that provided safety and security and our prayer is that when we come to the end of this that you remember us and remember the 25 percent loss we took, because we need them."

Linch's comments were met with a thunderous applause and even cheers from the crowd and Allatoona supporters.

According to PTSA Co-President Angie Santy, the school lost its head basketball, head baseball, head volleyball, head swimming, head softball, head rifle team and head football coaches, as well as three assistant football coaches and two cheerleading coaches.

One of the problems, Santy explained, is that many of the teachers being cut had only served in Cobb County for two years, beginning at Allatoona when it was opened in 2008, even though they had several years experience in other districts. Santy said that the school's principal, Scott Bursmith, was not asked for his input on who would be let go and who would stay, and was instead, given a list to cut from the district's human resources department.

"We could have made it work, we understand there has to be cuts, but we could have dealt with it," Santy said. "It (the cuts) should be how it affects the school."

Four students from the Center for Advanced Studies in Science, Math and Technology at Wheeler High School also spoke to the board on Wednesday about teacher cuts. The Wheeler students protested, saying that many of their Magnet program teachers were fired, and that they didn't understand how the program would be going on without these teachers.

Several teachers, who were victims of the cuts, spoke to the board demanding answers from the district as to why they had been cut. 

Anthony Sanacore, a McCleskey Middle School teacher, gave a particularly poignant speech saying that not only had he been cut from the district, but his wife, who was teacher, had been as well. Sanacore, a two-year Cobb teacher and a six-year veteran in the state, said the same day he found out that 99.96 percent of his students passed the CRTC he received the news that he would be laid off. His wife found out on Tuesday after two years of teaching in the county, and the day she returned from maternity leave. 

"Your plan to indiscriminately cut teachers based on years of experience is ridiculous, especially when there's money in the reserve to cover the cuts," Sanacore said. "It's been out there and it's there, as you said it's a rainy day fund, it's not going to get rainier than this. Use it ... You've got the reserve money, you've got until June to do something smart - do it. Look at me when I'm talking to you - do it."

Board Chairwoman Lynnda Crowder-Eagle ended the session abruptly after Sanacore, the final speaker, without telling the audience the board was going to a 10-minute break.

Students, former students, teachers and parents from Oakwood Alternative High School begged the board to reconsider its decision to turn the alternative high school into a digital academy, replacing the teaching staff there with computers and requiring students to learn on their own.

The students have been lobbying the board, writing emails to board members and protesting outside central office about this issue since April 27, when the Journal first reported about the possible closure of Oakwood. Unbeknownst to several board members, including Alison Bartlett and Dr. John Crooks, the school board's vote on April 22 to lay off 734 employees included restructuring the district's alternative education program, also known as Oakwood High School. This meant that the district would remove Oakwood's 22 teachers from the school and replace them with computers and several staff members from Ombudsman, a private alternative education firm the district contracts with to teach students who have been expelled or suspended.

Student Veronica Crowder and her mother, Susan Crowder, who are related by marriage to Crowder-Eagle, both spoke to the board about reconsidering its vote.

"Shutting down Oakwood would be a big mistake, you'd be ruining hundreds of kid's futures when you have the choice to do otherwise. We are not a program; we are a SACS accredited school. We came to Oakwood for a reason, and that reason was to graduate. Oakwood does what our home schools couldn't. It breaks each of our hearts to learn that someone would want to take that from us, especially our school board. As of now, I'll probably end up dropping out and getting my GED, since I can't learn on computers. My main point is that Oakwood is worth every penny the county spends on it and it should not be shut down or restructured or changed in any way."

Later, during the board's meeting, none of the board members brought up the topic of Oakwood High School.

Allen

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The National Institute for Multicultural Competence" group.
To post to this group, send email to ni...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to nimc+uns...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nimc?hl=en.