HIV scare puts Mo. school in uncertain territory

[blue]

Come to think of it, when our district ran out of space in the schools, and needed to build additions or totally renovate schools, many of our kindergarten classes were moved to local church basements and classroom areas for the entire school year.

Anchorage and the Mat Valley use Relocatable buildings as "temporary" solutions when schools get too full. I dont see a problem with using local resources like churches to help out but too many of AK resisdents would rather the state take care of the problem.

Do I agree with the collaboration between religious and ethnic and whatever else groups and our district? Not really, but then again, I'm not in charge and I don't make the rules. What does have to be taken into consideration is that when you have a large part of your district that is in poverty and student groups need places that are safe to meet, where can they go? Many schools are used in that way.

It used to be that way in Anchorage, now the city has raised taxes to build youth centers to fill the role the public schools used to. More taxes more, more needless infrastructer. I cant fathom the way the city and the ASD work anymore. The only public pools where at the high schools, they have been shutting them down to public access due to budget constraints; more money for addministrative costs, less to public access.

When I was in 6th grade it was 1982. We weren't that progressive here in PA at that time, lol. I think the girls got a sex talk in 8th grade, and that was about the extent of it. At least where I grew up (Poconos).

I was 8 in 1982, I have no idea what grade I was in at the time. Progresive to me is just another word for liberal, my coworker is a self proclaimed "progressive", he is farther left then both NObama and Hillary are.

Ill admit Alaskan politics are strange on the surface but it adds up if you look at it on certain levels but thats for a different thread.

[jennielynn1970]

The district only uses the church facilities, the teachers are relocated to those spaces teach. And only some of our schools receive state funding. It depends on the poverty level of the community, and the amount of students on free and reduced lunch. Those who qualify get Title 1 funding and have more teacher assistants in the classrooms, smaller class sizes (usually about 15-20 kids vs. 30 per classroom), they have breakfast programs, and ASPIRE, which is state funded afterschool activities. The schools in our district that do not fall into that category are really screwed when it comes to the "extras".

We could get those portable classrooms, they have for other schools, but many times it comes down cost, available space outside of the school (many of schools don't have parking lots, teachers park on the street), and they try to keep what small amount of playground space they have for the kids.

Right after the stock market crashed the other week, a memo went out from our superintendent. They cut almost every possible activity after school you could think of because they lost so much money that they had put into stocks. It sucks. I mean, the kids are losing out, not the administrators. Admin complained about how tight the budget is, and when they asked the superintendent why he didn't turn down his raise (which was about 11% I think), he said no, he deserved that raise. Ummm... kids don't deserve to have activities?? If they wanted to take my raise for the year so that they could fund an activity, seriously, I would be fine with that. I have to pay bills, but I'm still there because I love to teach kids.

Our present superintendent had it put into his contract that EVEN if he left the district (fired or whatever, we've had major issues under his watch), he would still be paid for the rest of his 5 year contract. I still can't believe the school board OK'd that one.

[blue]

The district only uses the church facilities, the teachers are relocated to those spaces teach. And only some of our schools receive state funding. It depends on the poverty level of the community, and the amount of students on free and reduced lunch. Those who qualify get Title 1 funding and have more teacher assistants in the classrooms, smaller class sizes (usually about 15-20 kids vs. 30 per classroom), they have breakfast programs, and ASPIRE, which is state funded afterschool activities. The schools in our district that do not fall into that category are really screwed when it comes to the "extras".

We could get those portable classrooms, they have for other schools, but many times it comes down cost, available space outside of the school (many of schools don't have parking lots, teachers park on the street), and they try to keep what small amount of playground space they have for the kids.

Right after the stock market crashed the other week, a memo went out from our superintendent. They cut almost every possible activity after school you could think of because they lost so much money that they had put into stocks. It sucks. I mean, the kids are losing out, not the administrators. Admin complained about how tight the budget is, and when they asked the superintendent why he didn't turn down his raise (which was about 11% I think), he said no, he deserved that raise. Ummm... kids don't deserve to have activities?? If they wanted to take my raise for the year so that they could fund an activity, seriously, I would be fine with that. I have to pay bills, but I'm still there because I love to teach kids.

Our present superintendent had it put into his contract that EVEN if he left the district (fired or whatever, we've had major issues under his watch), he would still be paid for the rest of his 5 year contract. I still can't believe the school board OK'd that one.

Are you a union member? You can PM me if that is too personal to post.

[jennielynn1970]

LOL. Do I sound like a union member? Why would that be too personal to post? I know there are pluses and minuses to every union. Believe me.

Actually, yes, I am a union member, and I was on the executive committee as well. It just got to be too much to be dealing with, and a lack of interest with the rest of the teachers to get involved. They wanted all the help, wanted to bitch and moan, but never wanted to help out.

We had a picnic at the end of the school year a few years ago. My co-chair and I put it together. It was at a local park, FREE to any union member (we have 1200 teachers in our district, and a 90+% membership in the union), and it was on a 1/2 day of school, so all you had to do was drive about 10 mins. from any school to get there. Burgers on the grill, hotdogs, bbq chicken, all kinds of picnic foods, iced tea and lemonade (BYO). Volleyball courts, basketball.. it was a gorgeous place, and it was for our 35th anniversary as a union.

Out of the 1100+ members, guess how many actually came??

Maybe 100. It was FREE. On a sunny afternoon. On a half day of school, and family members were welcome.

The comments we got were "Why couldn't you bring it to us at our own schools?"

Lazy, freaking, apathetic people. It just ticks me off, even to this day. Can ya tell, lol!