Reflections and musings on education and other local issues 2010-07-26T07:54:44Z WordPress http://rosenblatt.org/blog/2009/12/04/these-budget-issues-affect-real-people/feed/atom/ Seth http://rosenblatt.org/blog/?p=129#comment-7384 2009-12-05T17:58:08Z 2009-12-05T17:58:08Z Thanks for the comment. That is a fair point, and we will definitely be using the results of last year’s survey as a principal source of feedback (which also included broad support for music and other programs as well). Obviously in these difficult times, tradeoffs will need to be made, and many people have different ideas on the relative value of different initiatives (e.g. class sizes vs. music programs, etc.). Also keep in mind our mission is to serve the “whole child.” All of that said, we’ll of course do the best we can to preserve the most important and effective elements of our educational programs, and we’ll also lean heavily on the advice of the educational experts we’ve hired in the district. It won’t be easy, but I guarantee it will be a thoughtful process.

]]> bob http://rosenblatt.org/blog/?p=129#comment-7383 2009-12-05T17:52:11Z 2009-12-05T17:52:11Z Thank you for your service to the community, especially in these difficult times. As you consider future cuts, please keep in mind the results of the community survey done last year–it overwhelmingly pointed to maintaining smaller class size in K-3 as the #1 concern (which was already compromised in last year’s decision to max out numbers per the current teacher contract). Keeping teachers in classrooms should be the top priority–all other programs, staff positions, etc. are nice to have, but don’t reflect the core mission of our schools, which is to teach reading, writing and arithmetic.

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