Tonight was the eighth public forum about the pending SPLOST referendum. Tomorrow night will be the last forum. After that, the board will consider the vote to call the referendum.
There were some tough questions asked tonight about building maintenance issues, safety issues, and the administration building. I answered them the best I could; however, most of the questions were regarding decisions made and events that occurred prior to my becoming Superintendent. I can't answer the whys or the whos of the past. I can only answer for today and the future.
I believe the future is bright. I believe that we can provide every classroom with 21st century technology. I believe that we can build enough classrooms to take care of BRAC. I believe that we can make physical education facilities comfortable places for children to get the exercise they need. I believe that we can remedy the problems we currently have with erosion on campuses, roofs that leak, buildings that need painting and repair. I believe we can. I am committed to doing that - on every campus! There is only one thing that will keep me from making sure all of this happens - MONEY! That is why I have gladly spent eight evenings telling the citizens what the capital needs of the district are and listening to public comment. Some of the comments were not pleasant or easy to hear.
There is one other thing that I believe! I believe that people in Muscogee County understand the importance of good public education and care about the conditions of the schools in their community. It is because of this last belief and the confidence I have in this community that will help me sleep tonight.
Monday, May 4, 2009
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I think to keep all elementary schools clean and safe and germ free and floors looking like glass.You should consider So many children per custodian and not by square footage. some schools have 350 children and 6 or 7 restrooms and others has 600-700 children with 30 restrooms. with the same amount of custodian, I also think that you should have part time custodians to work four hours a day to help some of the schools out that do have a lot of children attending.also some of the desk have the legs off and the children are sitting in the floor would you want your child sitting in the floor on a dirty rug that has been walk or sit on by other kids and also is poor posture. I as a parent would want to know that you are considering all opinion as our superintendent. shirley
ReplyDeleteChildren are sitting in the floor???!!! Please...tell me this is not true!!!
ReplyDeleteOK LOOK EVERY ONE THERE IS A SCHOOL CALLED E.G.S IN COLUMBUS GA ON UNIVERSITY RIGHT BESIDE HALEY TUNNER IN THAT LITTLE SHOP STRIP RAN BY MISS SALEY LASSIDAR AND IT SHOULD BE DISSCREIDITED..... SOME ONE SHOULD BE SENT TO EVAULATE THIS SCHOOL WITHOUT THEM KNOWING IT IS HORRIBLE. THEY HAVE NO CLUE HOW TO TEACH AND EVERY CHILD AND PARENTS THAT HAVE BEEN THERE WILL TELL YOU THE SAME IT SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN ASAP!!!!!! I AM PAYING TO PUT BILLBOARDS UP TO PROTEST THIS LADY AND HER SOOO CALLED SCHOOL PLEASE CHECK THIS SCHOOL OUT.... FOR THE KIDS.
ReplyDeletePlease note that Mrs. Lassiter's program is not part of the Muscogee County School District although she is a provider of supplemental services (tutoring) that the State Department of Education has approved. I have known many parents who were well pleased with her services. As we all know, though, one size does not fit all!
ReplyDeleteThis is probably a dumb question, but I'm curious about where the students of Carver High School and faculty will be housed during the construction of the new Carver High. Will they be sent to other schools after the school is demolished or housed in portable buildings? What's the plan for them until the new school is completed? Also, what are you planning to do for art and music education besides this new fine arts academy? This will help one school, but are there any plans to help our existing programs with instruments, art supplies, sheet music, etc.?
ReplyDeleteThis is not a dumb question! We are currently working on a plan for where to house the Carver students during the demolition and rebuilding of their school. We want to keep them together on one site and try to keep their activities as normal as we can. We will take the plan to the Board of Education for approval when we get all of the details finalized.
ReplyDeleteJust today I sent a letter to some individuals who are interested in partnering with the school district to put a strings program like Wynnton Elementary has in more schools. The Board of Education really supports fine arts although in these tough budget times it is difficult to put alot of money in any one place. As we work on the budget for next year we are making sure there is money for fine arts - never as much as we would like, but keeping the arts on our radar!
Tonight the Blackmon Road Middle School orchestra and the Columbus High Quartet entertained us at the Retirement Celebration. Both groups were wonderful! What a treat!
I hae several parts to my comments/questions:
ReplyDelete(1) Why - at some high schools - are the Career computer classes equipped with 24 computers when they should have 28 (based on what I have gathered from other schools)? What is the state regulation on this? It seems that it is not equitable for some Career classes to have 24 when others have 28. Enough students are not being served.
(2)How is funding determined per child in Career classes?
(3) I have heard that about a year, year and a half ago, there was a bad foul-up in the Career department with textbooks and software being ordered wrongly, and a great deal of money being lost in the process. Has this been investigated?
Students are not sitting on the floor because there are no chairs. Students are sitting on the floor in many classes and many schools in MCSD because of a Cornerstone initiative in the district. The first thing learned in the program is how to change the classroom environment to feel like home for lower grades. Of course, you wouldn't want upper grade students sitting on the floor all day. For the lower grades, they are able to sit on the floor, get comfortable, and complete their work however they can. This helps take out a lot of distractions in the classroom because their bodies are so busy at a young age. They can read on their desk or read in their lap, as long as they are doing their work. It's great for the lower grades and also a research based initiative by Cornerstone. I know many model classrooms are set up this way, and many new teachers have been sent to obseve these classrooms in the past 4 years (or more) and encouraged to use the same ideas in their own classrooms. Parents are encouraged to observe, also. Of course, a few chairs are avaliable if a student cannot handle the floor or if a student is wearing a dress.
ReplyDeleteI see two questions above not responded to - are those not being addressed?
ReplyDeleteSorry. I had staff to answer those questions and they did. I failed to post them. Here are the answers:
ReplyDeleteThe maximum number of students that can be served in all Career Teachnical Ag Education (CTAE) classes is 28. Since 1987 all business computer labs in the District were equipped with 24 computer stations. This occurred mainly because of the room dimensions-enough room to house computer stations, computers, printers, and other requirements added on through industry certifications. The orgininal classrooms were built for typing labs, not computer labs. When Northside was built in 2002, the same number of stations (24) were put in the business rooms there. By 2005, Northside needed additional seats for students. The CTAE supervisor at Northside requested to purchase 4 additional network drops for each of the labs, and purchased additional computers and furnitre with CTAE funding. This allowed 12 more students per block to be served in those classes. The Department of Technology has been asked to allow 4 more network drops to the last business lab at Northisde which was not upgraded before to make 28 stations there. Northside is the only school at this point serving 28 students in 3 out 4 of their labs.
Adding more student stations is being considered. We will add more network drops to the classrooms soon. Jordan cannot accomodate more computer stations in their rooms because of size. Hardaway could possibly add to a couple of rooms,but some are too small. Carver, Kendrick, Shaw, and Spencer could add more stations, but they are not over-crowded.
Funding is determined by full-time equivalent student attending and the full funding level for all CTAE courses is 20 with a maximum of 28 student per class.
Now, about textbooks and software. When CTAE went through the textbook adoption in 2006, the teachers selected a textbook to teach all of the software contained in CS2. CS2 software includes Dreamweaver, Flash, InDesign, etc. and is used in Web Design, Desktop Publising, Multimedia and some other programming. The software was purchased after the textbook was selected. By the time the software was purchased, we had the choice of purchasing the old version or the new version. Purchasing the new version did not make the textbooks obsolete, but it did require the teachers to study the new software, detail the changes in the software and textbook, and add thse to their lesson activities. In other words, the textbook purchased 1/2 year earliers could not be followed page by page, word by word. The teacher had to redesign the activities using the upgraded software. This is the nature of the ever changing computer world.
Answers from Audrey Bergeron, CTAE Director