More outsourcing in the cash poor RCSS... amazing...
A Richmond County school board committee agreed Tuesday night to seek a state waiver on the maximum class size for elementary grades and for those taking English as a second language.
The move, which must be approved by the full board, would raise the maximum by two more pupils, but officials were quick to note that most classes aren't pushing the current limit. The waiver request is meant to address a few classes that have recently exceeded approved numbers by one student.
Missoura Ashe, the executive director for Richmond County elementary schools, said the waiver provides "a safety net" across the board should it be needed and would prevent the system from having to hire extra teachers for the two kindergarten and one English Language Learners classes that have slightly exceeded their limit. Without the waiver, those classes would have to be split.
School board President Marion Barnes said the system is financially strained, "so we don't have any choice" but to ask for the waiver.
Without a waiver or split classes, officials said, the school system's state funding could be diminished for violating maximum class sizes. The waiver request would ask that the allowed maximum sizes be increased from 20 to 22 pupils for kindergarten, 21 to 23 for first through third grades, and 28 to 30 for fourth and fifth grades. As for English Language Learners classes, two more pupils would be allowed beyond the current approved levels for classes with no paraprofessional: 11 for kindergarten through third grade, 14 for grades four through eight and 18 for ninth through 12th. For those with a paraprofessional, the current maximum is 13 for kindergarten through third, 15 for fourth through eighth and 20 for ninth through 12th.
In other action at Tuesday night's meeting, committees:
- Agreed to start an after-school program next month through the group Building Educated Leaders for Life, or BELL. The $770,000 program would include 17 schools and serve more than 500 students three days a week for 2 1/2 hours a day. BELL has agreed to fund $225,000 of the cost, and the 17 schools participating are contributing remaining funds through Title 1 and school-improvement money.
- Agreed to reduce the mileage reimbursement school system employees receive from 55.5 cents per mile to 50 cents.
- Approved a three-year, $1.8 million contract with the company Global Scholar to implement a new information system that would start next school year and consolidate several programs that track student databases. One function of the program allows it to send a text message to parents notifying them whether their child made it to class.
The full board is scheduled to meet Tuesday.
Reach Preston Sparks at (706) 828-3851 or preston.sparks@augustachronicle.com.
Comments
More outsourcing in the cash poor RCSS... amazing...
my question is if you are an "AMERICAN" and a "LEGAL CITIZEN" then why would you need to tak ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE????...seems to me it's more "lets give freebees to someone who is not supposed to be here in the first place!!!"...hey pres. barns, why find out if the students "who need to take ENGLISH" are here legally, if not then how about notifying the authorities there are ILLEGAL ALIENS attending school in richmond county....with a strained budget the taxpaying LEGAL citizens can't continue to pay for freebees
There are many children born in the US with US parents that lived in neighborhoods where they only spoke their native tongue. I am totally against illegal immigrants but just because someone doesn't know English as a first language doesn't mean they are illegals. There are alot of military stationed overseas who marry someone from another country, have a child there and then come back to the states. That child does not always know English.
Justme you obviously don't know a lot about the military and overseas assignments.
What they might want to consider is buying some text books for the 10th grade math classes at crosscreak HS. This is a quote from the book the kids currently have, "As you use the Cognitive Tutor, Georgis Mathematics ll software, it actually learns about you as you learn about mathematics. As you work you will receive "just-in-time" instruction so that you are always ready for the next problem. In the classroom you will work with your peers to solve real-world problem situations. Working in groups you will learn to use multiple representations to analyze questions and write or present your answers.
Throughout the entire process, your teacher will be a facilitator and guide in support of your learning. As a result you will become a self-sufficient learner, moving through the software and student text at your own rate and discovering solutions to problems that you never thought were possible to solve.
Now why did I post this document? Because we bought the questionaire but forgot to buy the software and computers that support it. The booklet the students have has no sample problems to guide students along which is critical when they have homework to do. BTW there is one computer in the classroom on the teachers desk. As to the froup efforts, the teacher dosen't use groups because there is no equipment. This isn't the first time I have seen one of these books, the kid had one last year in the 9th grade and was totally confused the entire year. So in closing, I think if we are to spend money Dr Beddeen, then lets spend it on needed supplys and not a program to build self-esteem as the Bell program does. I would thing an educator would worry about the techniques of core subjects before more feel good programs are initiated.
Lifelong, I guess you are unaware that the Federal government says illegal or not, they must be educated, and schools are not allowed to turn in the parents. If a school did that, they would be in violation of Federal law. And no, not all ESL kids are illegal. Disssman, I understood what it said. What do you disagree with?
OK, disssman, now I am laughing. My son's 11th grade English teacher decided that all work should be done on the computer. We didn't have one, I told the teacher, "if this is so important to his learning, the school can provide him one" and she said "they don't do that". I said, "Then he's not doing work on a computer." My son just got promoted at work- because he has to write a lot of reports and he KNOWS HOW TO WRITE- which most people can't do anymore.
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