Comments on: Eek. The budgets.

By: kandamom

kandamom — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:38:49 +0000

As of right now, Decatur is still going to have full day kindergarten next school year, but will be without an aide.

By: JBB

JBB — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:18:22 +0000

The LSC at Beaubien had an open meeting in which they discussed how to restructure the budget, only a couple dozen people showed up. Those that didn’t attend the meeting really have no right to complain afterwards.

Yes, it’s horrible that the school is losing music, but I notice no one is complaining about the regular music classes, just the afterschool programs. That is a small percentage of the school.

As for this being political against the current music teacher, he has announced to many people (students included) that he probably won’t be back next year. He’s planning on being elected to the teachers’ union.

Think about it, if you had to cut a position wouldn’t you cut the one of the person who was planning on leaving anyway?

The reduced budget is not the prinipal’s choice, he and the LSC can only work with the funds they have.

Beaubien is a good school with a dedicated PTO and staff, it’s a shame that a small perecentage of the parents don’t appreciate this and thrive on stirring up trouble.

By the way, have you listened to the band? It ishorrible!

By: Depressed

Depressed — Fri, 07 May 2010 20:41:34 +0000

Got the bad news Thorp letter today about kindergarten. This throws a huge wrench in our plans. I’ve already registered ds for kindergarten. Guess I’ll be looking at schools again. The half day option just doesn’t work for us. I wonder how many more parents who registered at Thorp for kindergarten will be doing the same thing.

To gmom: Not sure what you mean by $8K or so in PTA fundraising to get the other half day back. Is that per student or total?

By: 2ndtimearound

2ndtimearound — Thu, 06 May 2010 22:38:15 +0000

west looper: Ogden has charged about $2500 this last year for the other 1/2 day of K

CPS Teacher: The old CPS slogan used to be “Children First”, but then they changed it sometime in the last 8 years; probably because there were too many complaints from teachers and parents about children not being placed as a priority.

By: Nicolle

Nicolle — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:47:12 +0000

#16-Angry dad: I heard about the music program cuts at Beaubien, too. That DOES suck. I think music is one of the things that makes us human.

Plus, I was really looking forward to seeing my sons play a musical instrument in the school band. (Hoped it would NOT be drums, because of loud practices at my home, but if they were really interested in that, I guess I’d suck it up.)

Don’t know if this is politically motivated, as you suggest, but the end result is the same–no music for our kids. Music is valuable. I hope the LSC reconsiders their decision.

By: gmom

gmom — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:01:30 +0000

Talked to Thorp principal today. Full day k is absolutely gone. Prospect of ‘buying” the second half of the day is nil. She said money would have to be found by June 30 or so – and it’s just too much. ALL expenses related to teacher would need to be paid. She says they average maybe $8k or so in PTA fundraising….

They are planning on 2 A.M. sessions and 1 p.m. session – both 2 1/2 hours.

By: CPS TEACHER

CPS TEACHER — Wed, 05 May 2010 12:28:57 +0000

My principal told staff yesterday that ten positions have to be cut. These are not just new teachers either. She said teachers with less than six years experience will get cut. This is a complete mess. Our class sizes will be at 35 next year! We can always count on CPS to put children first!

By: Angry Dad

Angry Dad — Wed, 05 May 2010 11:11:47 +0000

Beaubien’s LSC just completely cut its music program to zero! No music classes, no band, no chorus for fall. This is an across-the-board cut, so ALL students are affected. My daughter is in the band, so this sucks for our family. There is an LSC meeting next week so I hope they address this then.

The rumor is that the beloved music teacher has been a vocal teacher’s union delegate who angered the principal one too many times, so the budget crisis is a convenient excuse to axe him. (They reclassified his job so that the Board of Ed no longer covers it and it was now vulnerable.) The LSC didn’t even muster a whimper and just rubber-stamped it.

They are “hoping” to find the money in the fall to hire someone to teach music. Wanna bet it won’t be the SAME music teacher? Hmmm…

By: Cookie

Cookie — Wed, 05 May 2010 05:03:04 +0000

OAE, needs their butt kicked.
They are pulling lots of magnet programs out of some schools to keep them in others.
Namely south and west side schools are getting stiffed while north side are getting stacked.

By: Carm

Carm — Wed, 05 May 2010 02:23:08 +0000

I don’t think schools can charge “tuition” for kindergarten or for any other class. What they can do is ask for donations or fundraise to make up the difference, but they can’t keep kids out if their families did not pay.

At our school, they are asking families to donate a certain amount to keep class size to 30 and to keep some special classes, and our principal explained that these donations are strictly voluntary.