BC waits on decision to let budget take shape
The Bethlehem Central School District Board of Education will be including the issue of multiage and combination classrooms in its deliberations over the 2010-11 budget, meaning a final decision on the fate of that institution will be put on hold until the fiscal situation gains more clarity.
Superintendent Michael Tebbano at a Wednesday, Jan. 20, meeting of the school board presented the findings of a committee convened to study the. The issue of multiage classrooms came to the forefront last year, when a group of concerned Clarksville Elementary parents approached the district to protest the practice.
The committee found that multiage classrooms offer an adequate education, and students may in fact benefit from having a longer relationship with the teacher and interaction with older and younger peers.
We don’t believe it’s a substandard education, Tebbano said.
Multiage classrooms have been in use for many years in the district`the earliest instance being one room schoolhouses`though combination classrooms are more common now. Combination classrooms involve combining students from two grade levels primarily for budgeting purposes, while in multiage classrooms student are intended to stay with the same teacher two years in a row.
At one time, Tebbano said, there were at least four multiage classrooms in every elementary school. Today, there is just one at Glenmont Elementary.
As with most programming issues in recent months, financial concerns played a significant role in the analysis. Bringing multiage classrooms to every school could very well reduced the number of sections required and even out the student-to-teacher ratio across the district, Tebbano said. On the extreme end of this plan, the number of sections could be reduced from 98 to 83, something that the school board will consider as it examines budget proposals that include staff reductions.
There would be extra training costs, roughly estimated at $100,000, to effectively implement a multiage classroom initiative, Tebbano said. Most new teachers don’t receive significant training in multiage teaching in college anymore.
`We really don’t know where the trainers are anymore. The movement has died away in the last few years,` Tebbano said.
Tebbano said the committee would recommend that multiage be terminated if it could not be adequately funded.
One unexpected remark from teachers was the difficulty a mixed classroom could present in preparing students for state testing or other grade-specific activities. Sometimes the grades have to be separated to study with a straight grade classroom, and this can cause headaches for teachers.
Board of Education President James Dering noted that BC students routinely score high on standardized tests.
`Is it really a concern that we have assessment issues when we’re doing so well?` he asked.
Other board members said the issue has been clouded by misinformation, and they are working to make a decision that’s best for everyone.
`I had a daughter in a multiage classroom, she seemed to survive, she went on to a top college and she’s doing very well,` said board member Laura Bierman. `I just think that some people forget that we’re parents as well.`
Members of the public expressed varied opinions of the findings, but most seemed appreciative that the district had taken up the issue. Resident Nancy Conway urged the school board to especially weigh the testimony of teachers in any decision.
`I used to be against multiage, but the more I see teachers willing to step up and say the difficulties they have with a multiage classroomand see you willing to listen, the more I think you’ll make the right decision,` she said.
Others said that while they aren’t against multiage classrooms, they don’t want to see them implemented as an afterthought or simply to meet a bottom line.
`If you’re going to keep multiage, commit to it and then do it right,` said Clarksville parent Laura Stevens. `I think it can be done successfully, it just hasn’t been done recently.`
Tebbano also took a moment to comment on the developing state budget, which will play a role in the direction the school district takes in its own budgeting.
Gov. David Paterson’s executive budget calls for over $1 billion in cuts to school aid, and Bethlehem Central would be in store for a $2.3 million aid reduction if the budget were to pass intact, which is in line with the $2.5 million administrators have been working into their initial planning.
But after last year’s budget cuts, Tebbano said that making up the aid gap through budget reductions would mean firing teachers, administrators and support staff and cutting into extracurricular activities.
`One of the things we’re concerned about it we want to keep a low tax rate, we may have to go after the $2.5 million in budget cuts,` Tebbano said.
The district is holding community budget forums to gather opinions. The next will be held Tuesday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. at the middle school, when the public will break into small groups to speak with officials.
The deadline for the state to pass a budget is April 1, though the state has only passed a budget on time on one occasion since 1984. Voters will go to the polls to vote on the school budget May 18.
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