More information on school climate task force proposals
The Guilford County Board of Education spent a little time at its meeting last night talking about the costs of following through on some of the proposals made last week by the school climate task force.
I was able to get a copy of the presentation made last week by Yamille Walker, one of the members of the task force. Everything here.
Following are some of CFO Sharon Ozment's cost estimates for the proposals:
* Assign one social worker per school: GCS has 43.70 social worker positions now so it would cost $5.3 million for 81.30 more positions. Average social worker salary and benefits is $65,571.
* Reduce class size to 17 or below in traditional schools: $41.4 million to add 897 teachers to accomplish this (going from 3,433 positions to 4,330 positions).
* Fund and implement Positive Behavior Support district-wide: $3.3 million with $201,008 needed for coordinators. PBS is currently at 21 schools.
* Add two non-law enforcement security positions to each high school to increase safety: ranged from $579,179 to $1.9 million depending on salaries and number of positions.
Comments (2)
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Dear Morgan:
Notably absent from the so-call "majority report" was any mention of parental involvement or responsibility for their children. The bottom line is if parents do not have standards of behavior for their children and enforce those standards, schools are very limited in what they can do to improve discipline.
I grew up poor, and was one of six children. Our parents, however, had expectations about how we would behave at school. When I got into trouble, my parents did not even want to know my side because they assumed, I think rightly, that if I got in trouble at school I had done something that I shouldn't have done. This philosphy was shared by the vast majority of my classmates' parents and, consequently, classroom disruptions were few and far between.
I don't think that what I am proposing, i.e., parental involvement and responsibility, is revolutionary. Moreover, I think experience demonstrates that it is very effective. The only question is whether we will make the case to the parents that we can't do this without them, and that it is in everyone's best interest to have reasonable standards of behavior that everyone must abide by.
Posted on March 9, 2008 10:33 AM
Paul, all you have said is true. But where do we go now? Parents want the best for their children. They just do not know how to do it. I one proposed that we have mandatory workshop attendance for parents at the First Grade, Sixth Grade and Ninth Grade level. At these workshops, the parents would be given tools to help their children. They would be encouraged to buy books for their children in addition to toys. They would be encouraged to put schooling first in their lives. The list could go on.
The problem with this is that their is no broad acceptance by the professional staff on what parents should do.
Time after time, teachers have sided with the idea that children must be happy to learn. Therefore a concept of being all things to all people has taken over.
I look forward to you leading the way on focusing on learning. I had wanted Garth to do the same. With 11 members on the Board, it is no fun to tilt at windmills.
I would suggest that you not take on the whole system at one time. Improve one school then others and if it is a good idea, it will sweep the county.
Best of luck,
It will not be easy, but it is not impossible.
Posted on March 9, 2008 2:28 PM