Gov. Deval Patrick vs. Public Education

In response to my letter, I get this from the Governor's office:

Dear Lisa,

On behalf of Governor Deval L. Patrick, thank you for sharing your thoughts about funding in the FY 2010 budget.

As you know, our current economic situation demands difficult decisions. Governor Patrick realizes that behind every budget item is a family, a worker, an important service or a worthy idea. Although declining revenues made it impossible to fund every program, the administration crafted a responsible budget for the times while continuing to provide assistance to those who need it most.

Please know that the Governor is grateful to have your voice as part of this discussion, and he hopes you will stay involved in your government moving forward. Now, more than ever, your participation matters.

Sincerely,
Tom Reece
Constituent Services Aide

BLS Parents Web Site

Some parents at my kid's school put together an action web site:

http://www.blsparents.org/

Reva's Letter

Thank you to Reva for editing the letter and giving it a great ending! 

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January 23, 2009

Representative Stephen Lynch
221 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-2109

Dear Representative Lynch:

I am a Boston resident who is writing to express outrage at the proposed budget cuts to the Boston Public Schools. My oldest child is an eighth grader who attends the Boston Latin School, which is the city’s largest high school with 2,440 students. 20% of Boston public high school students attend this school! It already has the burden of the highest student-teacher ratio of all the high schools – 27 kids: 1 teacher.

The Boston Public School formula states that a school of Boston Latin's size needs 132 teachers; the proposed budget would cut it to only 99. It will become dysfunctional at that staffing level, eliminating the quality of core academics, and completely dismantling all the programs which distinguish it as an excellent public school. Class sizes would reach 30 or more students.

It is disturbing that the city and state are punishing the very students who are making the “right choices.” These are the students who wake up at 6:00 am to be at school promptly at 7:40 am after taking the MBTA buses through Boston traffic, and then returning home to do hours of homework each night.

As a city parent, I was confident that my child had as good a chance as any suburban child to receive a very high quality education, due to the challenging academic standards at this Boston public school. The budget for next year would eliminate this level playing field, once again underlining that good public education can only be found in rich suburbs. We should not stand by to allow this inequity in the United States, as ‘children are left behind’ in our cities.

Congressman, I applaud your efforts to ensure that due diligence is done on the stimulus package, but I need to see your support for the education component. We must send the message that excellence in public schools is our national goal, and will be vigorously supported by the federal government. I am anxious to watch your support on a national and local level to bring economic stimulus funds to our Boston public schools, and to stop these budget cuts.

Sincerely yours,

Reva

Letter to one of the Councilor's at Large

Tonight, I wrote my Boston City councilors, the four "councilors at large" and the mayor. I tried to personalize each letter in the first paragraph. Here is a sample, thanks for any comments on improving:

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Dear Councilor Connolly:

I am a resident of Ward 20, Precinct 20, West Roxbury, MA. I am writing to express outrage at the proposed budget cuts to the Boston Public Schools. On your web site, it states that you are a former teacher who "has been a strong voice for improving Boston Public Schools" so I am very interested in your response to this budget.

My oldest child attends Boston Latin School. As you probably know, this is the city’s largest high school with 2,440 children. 20% of Boston public high school students attend this school! It already has the burden of the highest student teacher ratio of all the high schools – 27:1 and still hasn’t recovered from budget cuts of five years ago.

The BPS formula states that a school of Boston Latin's size needs 132 teachers; the proposed budget cuts it down to 99. It will become dysfunctional at that staffing level.

My sense is that the “system” expects parents to magically finance this budget gap (with private tutors, outside programs…) because of the school’s reputation even though almost a third of the students qualify for free/reduced lunch (latest statistics on greatschools.net) and many other families are just at the limit.

Although I currently earn well under six figures, until now, I was confident that my child had as good a chance as any suburban child to receive an excellent education due to high academic standards at this Boston Public School. The budget for next year would gut this level playing field.

The current proposal by the Boston Public Schools means that:

********* 100 or more of the youngest students will spend 30% of their school day warehoused in the cafeteria with 2 
adults to supervise.

********* High school students will lose 20% of their academic opportunities, 5 rather than 6 academic subjects. This would instantly diminish college opportunities for hundreds of poor and working-class students in Boston who attend this school in order to gain entrance AND scholarships to college.
********* Advanced placement classes will be canceled. Again, students’ chances for college and scholarships would be greatly diminished.

********* The Arts programs will be eliminated. Research in education over the last 20 years has expanded our knowledge about how teens and young adults learn, communicate, and understand the world. For example, Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences has shown that the arts play a vital role in improving students’ ability to learn. At the BLS winter concert, students paused before their performances to state point blank that they would not be in school today if not for the arts. I wish you could have heard those statements.

********* PE and health and at least one guidance counselor will be eliminated. Again, given the recent incidents of violence in public schools -- think Columbine -- cutting a major stress outlet for young people who are already under tremendous pressure is short-sighted. It poses a public safety risk for the school and the city.

It is disturbing that the city and state are punishing the very students who are making the “right choices.” The ones who get up at 6:00 am to be at school promptly at 7:40 am after taking the MBTA through Boston traffic (!!!!) and then return home to do hours of homework a night.

Thank you for doing everything you can to stop these budget cuts.

Sincerely yours,


Lisa Link, (home phone number listed here)

Boston Globe Article and Comments

The Boston Globe ran an article today.  "even the city's most successful and politically connected school will not go unscathed" says today's Globe article.  It implies that the Boston Latin School is super elite. Anyway, if they are so connected, why are they so incredibly understaffed?

Doesn't mention that almost 1/3 - maybe more - who knows this year - of the students qualify for the free/reduced lunch program - that's hundreds of students. 

Balancing the bailout on the backs of school children

So, on the parent listserv, one person made a comment something to the effect of balancing the financial bailout on the backs of public school kids. 

Everyday when I pick up the paper it's like reading some fairy tale gone awry with the bad guys totally triumphing in the end. Give billions to financiers with no strings attached and at the same time send out funding restrictions that will destroy public education. At lot more than one child will be left behind.

I learned on the listserv that our school in particular is a target, because it is the biggest, 7-12th grade, the school central office decides the easiest way to save money is to ask our school to cut almost 20% of its teaching staff.  It will cease to function as a viable educational institution.

Today, the state legislature of MA got a 5.5% pay raise. The governor, Deval Patrick, brushed off criticism saying that $61,440 isn't a lot of money. 

Boston Schools to cut Art and Phys Ed

Today learned that the Boston, Public Schools will be eliminating art and gym from my son's middle/high school as well as most of the new, dynamic academic teachers. This is a school where many of the students participate in the arts either through bands, choruses, drama. They have so many performing groups that they spread the holiday concerts over two nights, three hours long each.

If you know statistics on why creativity and physical movement in education is important, please email me or let me make you an editor so you can post the info for people to use in letters to the governor, city council, school superintendent.

Tonight at the holiday concert the conductor had to announce that all the music teachers were probably going to be laid off. If was so depressing. His daughter, a recent graduate, talked about how she just texted a friend who cried when she heard. The student performers talked about how they wouldn't have made it through school without music, that they wouldn't be standing there today. The music program is probably the best thing at that school, the most dedicated teachers. I am devastated.

Made a call

Day 2:

Called my representative Mike Rush's office. Very nice, took my call even though it was 4:55. I asked who in "the state" approved the funding.  The polite assistant said that he would look into it. I gave him my email.

You can find your representatives here on the Mass Gov website.

46 Million for Newton

A day or two after mentioning that Boston might be firing 200 police officers and many school systems are laying off teachers because they don't have an extra $50K to keep them, I read in the Boston Globe that the "State" has awarded 46.6 Million dollars to Newton to fund their bloated, mismanaged high school building project.

They picked an expensive, designer "STARchitect" - Graham Gund who specializes in museums, not public schools.  His design uses non-standard components that will inflate the cost of the building. So, instead of leaving another angry comment at the end of the article, I want to find out why the "State" approved the money and what the needs are of every other high school.