Tough Decision for Charlottesville Schools

Whatdoyamean a "..... school system is just like a business...." I hope not! That attitude is cavalier at best, insulting at worst. Teachers, for the most part, are the most underpaid, under appreciated professions in the country. It is so much more than a "business." Administrators and consultants, the most overpaid. Most people have expressed opinion about tachers over their lifetimes. Let's get creative and do something for the teachers of our future. There are weeds in every profession....do some appropriate gardening and do what is needed.

would offering school vouchers help the icty financially?
Has anyone looked into this?

I think they should shut down all the schools so the downtown mall can be rebricked every year!

They should give all the teachers a 50% pay cut. The only ones who will stay will be the dedicated teachers, and all the others will leave. We will cut out half of the teachers salarys and pay pay the other half half, saving a ton of money and getting better teachers. Everybody wins!

They should fire Ms. Smith. She give 2 much homwork and she need a tictac.

This article is a superficial treatment of an important issue. People need to know where local school spending ranks with the rest of the state. They need to know if the district is giving them their money’s worth. The reporter who wrote this article offered none of that.

Some of those critical questions are:

What is the current district student teacher ratio? Where does that rank in the state?

What is the current district spending per pupil? Where does that rank in the state?

Where does the district's overall performance rank in the state?

Which schools in the district, if any, have dangerously low performance scores?

If the superintendant doesn’t use these numbers, then what set of management tools does the superintendant use?

My suspicion is that the consulting group would not have recommended the termination of so many assistants if the student teacher ratio were not way out of line with state guidelines.

I waded through half of the 332 page pdf file and did not find answers to these questions. The reporter could have gotten those answers directly from the superintendant.

If they do consider to close an elementary school there are going to be some mad parents in Charlottesville.
I looked through the 332 page file and I say forget the brick laying, the meadowcreek parkway and the new YMCA pool and put the money towards education.
Our priorities are all messed up when we can validate unnecessary spending and hear from some group that wants us to fire dedicated people who went through college and have to take CEC's to remain teachers.
In perilous times it is always the children that suffer.
How is Albemarle doing with the chartered school? Any better financially? Does anyone know?

Teach with 35 kids per class, fire the excess, and teach efficiently! I'm tired of wasting tax money on fat, lazy teachers!

MacKenzie wrote:

Teach with 35 kids per class, fire the excess, and teach efficiently! I'm tired of wasting tax money on fat, lazy teachers!

i completely agree

Ditto

Some of these comments are unbelievable. Teaching is one of the most important but unappreciative professions, it amazes me we can pay actors and athletes millions of dollars but pay the people who are responsible for educating our children so little, and you idiots have the nerve to belittle them, how sick.

MacKenzie wrote:

Teach with 35 kids per class, fire the excess, and teach efficiently! I'm tired of wasting tax money on fat, lazy teachers!

I'm not sure how to comment. I am offended on several levels.

Labeling teachers "fat".
Labeling teachers "lazy".
How would you feel if one of your children were one of the 35 students in a classroom?

Newsreader wrote:

Some of these comments are unbelievable. Teaching is one of the most important but unappreciative professions, it amazes me we can pay actors and athletes millions of dollars but pay the people who are responsible for educating our children so little, and you idiots have the nerve to belittle them, how sick.

Actors and athletes have talent and ability, and make our lives better. Teachers are a bunch of failed miserable recjects who cant hold real jobs, so they sponge off your taxes to crush kids self asteem and make them do stupi homework. The only sick thing is that they dont get all fired.

Wow, there are some clueless people in this forum. I would like to see some of these losers try to teach a classroom full of kids. Teachers are not allowed to be teachers anymore. They have to be the father figure, mother, nurse, referee, counselor, friend, parole officer,etc. In other words do all the things that the parents don't (won't) do for their children. You could not pay me enough to teach in these school systems that have administrators that focus on test scores and not the kids. I wonder if Cville is like AC where they have so much pork in the front office, they could probably trim 15-20% off the budget by cleaning central office out. There will always be bad teachers, bad policeman, bad ______(fill in), but the majority of these educators are under paid, unappreciated, and overwhelmed. There is a lot of waste in the ed system, but don't lump everyone together and label them bad (or fat & lazy).

Them lazy kids dont want to learn nothing nohow. Fire all them lazy teachers and bus a buch of them Katrina whiners from New Orleans to babysit these delinquents 50 to a room until they are old enough to work at mcdonalds, and save a ton of money.

Improve education by firing teachers and closing schools? Well, it makes just as much sense as forcing teachers to teach to a test and cutting the budgets of schools that struggle with that to make them improve.

I'm curious if anyone thinks they would be better at their job if their pay was cut 20%?

One day, all the public schools will be closed and the world will return to the Republican ideal of an educated rich class and an ignorant poor who work for what ever slave wage the rich decide. Isn't that what the Republican Contract on America said was "God's Ideal America"?

Durban wrote:

They should give all the teachers a 50% pay cut. The only ones who will stay will be the dedicated teachers, and all the others will leave. We will cut out half of the teachers salarys and pay pay the other half half, saving a ton of money and getting better teachers. Everybody wins!

"Dedicated" if and only if they're already independantly wealthy. You can barely afford to live within driving distance on a teacher's salary now.

Most are already "Dedicated", Sir.

Going broke in Albemarle wrote:

Wow, there are some clueless people in this forum. I would like to see some of these losers try to teach a classroom full of kids. Teachers are not allowed to be teachers anymore. They have to be the father figure, mother, nurse, referee, counselor, friend, parole officer,etc. In other words do all the things that the parents don't (won't) do for their children. You could not pay me enough to teach in these school systems that have administrators that focus on test scores and not the kids. I wonder if Cville is like AC where they have so much pork in the front office, they could probably trim 15-20% off the budget by cleaning central office out. There will always be bad teachers, bad policeman, bad ______(fill in), but the majority of these educators are under paid, unappreciated, and overwhelmed. There is a lot of waste in the ed system, but don't lump everyone together and label them bad (or fat & lazy).

Ditto! it is sad that teachers have to supply paper, pencils, clothes, and take on the role of parenting, breaking up fights, etc... with the added pressure of making sure they follow SOL"s.
Teachers deserve raises not to be called names that are degrating.
Sacrifice other things and hold teachers accountable but do not lump them all together. My children have been a private school where tuition was 9,000.00 per kid and had horrible teachers. In the public school system I have had some challenges, but there is more support from teachers, principals, counselors and even administration.
I am a hands on parent that does not expect the school system to provide parenting to my children. Maybe if parents could find one hour a week to volunteer at their child's school, we could add to the school system and reduce costs.
But that would be too hard on parents, their job comes first, right? Let's just blame it all on the teachers and school system. Home environment means nothing, right? WRONG!

Typical wrote:

One day, all the public schools will be closed and the world will return to the Republican ideal of an educated rich class and an ignorant poor who work for what ever slave wage the rich decide. Isn't that what the Republican Contract on America said was "God's Ideal America"?

You need to get a clue and leave the ignorance at your place no one on here wants to hear your crap. What will make you happy being a total socialist society where no one prospers but those in charge?