Do you understand your school system?
Most residents who have an interest in their child’s education do not understand the inner workings of their local school system. The state of Georgia mandates a state school curriculum; The Georgia Performance Standards; goals for each grade level. Each teacher is required to use and implement the GPS. Every subject and grade level from kindergarten to 12th grade is addressed in the GPS; Language Arts, Reading, Science, Social Studies, Mathematics, Health, Technology, etc…. There are lesson plans and assessment suggestions for each grade level and for each strand of the standards. These standards can be found on the internet at: www.georgiastandards.org.
The Fayette County Board of Education employs a large staff of administrative positions that were put in place to support curriculum and instruction. (The support has been in the form of required testing and reporting of scores.) Fayette County maintains nine curriculum directors and professionals. (See www.fcboe.org)
Many successful Georgia counties employ one director of curriculum for each level, elementary, middle, and high school, not each subject and level. Along with these nine curriculum and professional development administrators our system employs several Instructional Support Teachers. Their duties and responsibilities consist of visiting schools and actually assisting teachers with the implementation of the GPS curriculum.
To date, excepting retirement, no administrative Fayette County office positions have been cut due to budget woes.
Unfortunately, teaching positions have been cut to the point of requiring permission from the state to allow for more students per classroom. For example; funding for elementary classrooms (grades 1-3) was based on 17 students with a maximum of 21, but, now with a waiver from the state, Fayette County elementary classrooms generally contain 23-24 students and can go as high as 30 students. (See www.doe.k12.ga for information on rules and regulations regarding public education in Georgia.)
Within each school building there are principals and assistant principles whose duties and responsibilities include checking lesson plans, observing instruction, planning ongoing professional learning (classes for improved teacher techniques), and ensuring that the Georgia Performance Standards set forth by the state are being adhered to and taught effectively.
Fayette County continues to struggle financially; cutting benefits, salaries, and even removing teacher work days (normally reserved for conferencing, planning, or professional learning, and the time normally spent packing up the classroom for the summer) in order to trim their budget. These are not the ways to continue to have a successful school system. This past February teacher contracts were due to be signed but were withheld until the lawyers could rework the phrasing. The new contracts included the caveat; at any time, for any reason, The Fayette County Board of Education could make changes to the benefits or salaries of its employees. The cover letter of each contract contained a statement to the effect: Sign the contract or send your letter of resignation to the county office immediately.
Residents of Fayette County need to begin to understand what is occurring within the confines of their trusted school system.
When times are difficult for businesses or families the first things to go are the extravagances, not the necessities. Good teachers with a strong active support team are necessary to maintain a successful school system. Small class size is a necessity for student success in school. A standard for learning (the GPS) is a necessity. The time has come to take a good hard look at what “extravagances” we need to remove from our local school system.
If you are still unsure about how “extravagant” Fayette County Board of Education has been with your money, you can simply turn to the local cable networks Fayette County Schools and watch our school employed newscaster for yourself.
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