$1.2 MILLION IN PRESCHOOL
$1.9 MILLION IN ELEMENTARY
$1.6 MILLION IN JUNIOR HIGH
$2.7 MILLION IN HIGH SCHOOL
$9$3.5 MILLION CUTS MILLION IN ADMINISTRATION
$10.9 MILLION IN CUTS Starting with the proposed preschool cuts in January and ending with the propose administrative cuts in March, the Lakota Local School District must cut $9 million to reduce the spending deficit and avoid running out of money by fiscal year 2014. Spark takes an in-depth look at the administration’s proposed reductions and changes. As of press time, the Lakota Board of Education is scheduled to vote on the proposals on March 12. photos ellen fleetwood, devon lakes, kenzie walters and sierra whitlock
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proposal is just that—a proposal. It has not been enacted and it can be amended or changed. On March 12, the Lakota Board of Education will vote on the administration’s proposals that have been introduced to it and the community since the beginning of February, potentially ushering in a new era of for the District. How the Board votes on the proposals will determine the direction of Lakota for years to come, as each proposal includes changes with widespread effects from consolidating the preschool program into a federal Head Start program, to cutting specials at the elementary schools to once a week, to shortening the day at the secondary level. These potential changes have sparked fierce dialogue throughout Lakota in neighborhood streets, kitchen tables and classrooms as each person has different ideas on how best to achieve $9 million in reductions. “There will be impact and changes and things people don’t like [when the Board votes],” Board president Ben Dibble said. “[Cuts] will give us a balanced budget in our next fiscal year, which is important to the community and to the Board. The administration is doing its best to find those reductions and make as small impact as possible” Although $9 million dollars is a tremendous amount of money for Lakota, Treasurer Jenni Logan said that $9 million in cuts would keep Lakota out of deficit spending next year, as long as revenues do not decrease any further. Lakota will not need a levy to avoid a cash deficit. “By eliminating the spending deficit [with cuts], we are eliminating falling off a cliff,” Logan said. “A future levy would be there to create the district that we want.” If the proposals are passed, it may amount to the loss of many teaching positions throughout the district. Personnel costs account for 77 percent of Lakota’s budget, so the largest reductions need to be made in that area. Teaching positions can also be referred to as full-timeemployees (FTE), which means that an FTE teaches the entire school day. Some proposals call for uneven numbers of teachers to reduced, which means that that much of an FTE will be reduced. Lakota Educator Association president Sharon Mays explained
that teachers who are let go from the district in this tough time will be reduced, not fired. “They’ll be riffed, in the private sector it’s called being laid off, and in our contract it is a Reduction in Force,” Mays said. “The difference as opposed to being fired is that they aren’t doing anything wrong” Mays also established that teachers will be riffed according to seniority and licensure. She predicts that there could be a lot of shuffling of teaching positions as teachers with higher seniority are moved around to fill places in other buildings because teachers are certified to teach multiple grades, like kindergarten through eighth grade. Lakota’s superintendent Karen Mantia has been leading the creation of these proposals by examining the budget line-by-line, taking a costto-benefits approach to cuts. She is confident that Lakota can maintain a quality education in the face of financial strife. “I hope that people keep the faith,” she said. “We have awesome teachers, great courses. I hope that people stay with us because we are going to deliver. We have people that want to do the right thing for Lakota and that hasn’t changed at all.” If the proposals are implemented as they appear now, Lakota will not be the same district it was five or 10 years ago. Reductions, however, are necessary as revenue from the state continues to fall and the community fails to pass levies. Without cuts, Lakota could fall under state control. Liberty Junior School health teacher of 35 years Gina Seifert will retire after this school year. She looks back on her time in the District with pride and she believes that levies continue to fail not because people do not support education, but because families are trying to survive. “This district has always been a melting pot experience of different ethnic and economic levels. People came here for that and they were successful. [School funding is not working and] its’ always going to be this way. It’s not going to change it gets worse and worse every year until they change the way schools are funded. I’m fearful where we’re going be five years from now. Hopefully ten years from now, we’ll be better for it, going in a different direction.” –Rachel Podnar
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REDUCERESTRUCTURE
PRESCHOOL
A FUTURE WITH HEAD START Consolidate current preschool program with the federal program Head Start Reduce staff by about 17.37 Butler County Education Service Center will run the program and hire and evaluate the teachers
TOTAL REDUCTIONS $1.2 MILLION
SAD.
One word described how Christina Shepherd felt when she realized her preschooler’s education could be compromised. The Creekside Early Childhood School (CECS) parent-teacher-organization co-president and preschool parent finds the quality of Lakota Local School District’s current preschool program unparalleled by any other program in the area. “When you have a child in that program and you think you’re going to have to choose something else or stick with the alternative, it’s
disheartening,” Shepherd said. “You know they’re not going to get the same quality of education that they’re getting right now.” With the impending cloud of reductions looming over the district, Lakota’s youngest members may feel the reductions from the $9 million in budget cuts. As one of the four propositions presented to the Lakota Board of Education in February, the preschool program proposal recommends sharing services with the Butler County Educational Service Center (BCESC) in order to save an estimated $1.2 million from the general fund. The Ohio Administrative Code states that a public school is responsible for identifying, locating and evaluating all children with disabilities residing within the district who are in need of special education services. According to Free Appropriate Public Education, when a student is identified with having a disability, the school district must offer a free and appropriate public education through special education services. The BCESC runs the federal Head Start programs in school districts across Butler County. Head Start promotes school readiness of children from low-income families, from birth to 5 years old. Besides promoting school readiness, Head Start offers other services based on the local community’s needs. Within Lakota, there are currently a total of four Head Start classrooms. CECS and Liberty Early Childhood School currently house one Head Start classroom each while Union Day, the historic Union Elementary school building, has two classrooms. Although both the BCESC and the Lakota preschool program serve Lakota students, the two programs operate separately. This does not maximize efficiency as only 83 percent of the capacity of the Lakota preschool program is currently utilized. Shepherd agreed that the Head Start program is “wonderful” but she does not think that the BCESC would be able to provide the same level of services to special needs children as the current preschool program is able to provide. “The quality of Lakota’s preschool program is above and beyond,”
Switching Services infographic josh shi
Currently, Lakota’s preschool program has a personnel cost of $3.3 million. In order to reduce costs by $1.2 million and still offer preschool education in the community, Lakota administrators have proposed to share services with the Butler County Educational Service Center. 10 | Spark | March 12, 2012
Current Model
Butler County Educational Service Center Shared Services Model
Key
Speech Language Pathologists
Itinerant Teachers
Registered Nurse
School Psychologist
Related Service
Preschool Teachers
Associate Degree Teachers
Instructional Aides
Secretary
Principal
Liasons
Ms. Bergman’s preschool class enjoys snacktime.
Shepherd said. “I personally do not understand why you would need to fix something that’s not broken.” Besides reducing costs and maximizing overall capacity, the proposal suggests that Lakota will share administrative control with BCESC. The BCESC will hire and evaluate teachers and assign a single administrator to oversee the program. If the proposal is passed, Lakota’s role in decision-making regarding personnel will diminish. The district will use Integrated Monitoring Process and Continuous Improvement Tool (IMPACT) to examine the program yearly. IMPACT uses performance indicators to evaluate several facets of the program, such as academic performance. Lakota executive director of special services Brenda Paget said this method of contracting services is not unusual, as the district has done so in the past to meet its needs. Regardless, Paget said the district will be present with the BCESC during hiring and evaluating processes. “We have definite oversight over everything that goes on with that preschool program and it’s going to be in our buildings,” Paget said. “It’s going to be right there in front of us every day.” In addition to assuming managerial responsibilities in the Lakota preschool program, the BSECS will also combine federal Head Start dollars to maximize cost-benefits. According to BCESC early childhood programs director Suzanne Prescott, funds come directly from the federal government through the Office of Head Start to the BCESC. “We receive $4,427,424 to serve 784 students across Butler County in Head Start,” Prescott said. “We also have an additional $445,484 of local in-kind services.” Paget said that she has been waiting for preschool to be targeted since the district began budget reductions in recent years because of the incurring costs. Last spring, Paget became aware of a similar proposal that was to be implemented in Middletown City School District during the 2011-12 school year. “Middletown is not identical to ours because they’re not our size and they have different needs than we do,” Paget said. “However, [their new program is] the same concept.” Middletown was able to lower the cost for the program by accessing approximately $619,000, courtesy of the agreement with the BCESC. In Middletown, there are 11 classrooms, all which are half-day sessions, and the program serves close to 370 children at a lower cost. According to the BCESC, 89 percent of the 57 students measured had
positive changes in scores on the Bracken School Readiness Assessment. Similarly, 98 percent of BCESC preschoolers have updated nutritional, health, wellness and social/emotional screenings. Middletown superintendent Greg Rasmussen said that he did not notice very many differences between this program and the preschool program that preceded it. The only variations are that the class sizes are smaller and the preschoolers come to school five, instead of four, days a week. Despite being too early to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the program, Rasmussen said that the district plans to continue the program next year. “Because all classrooms are now under one umbrella, there is better coordination and cooperation than ever before,” Rasmussen said. “It appears our program quality has remained high.” Lakota’s current preschool layout has 15 classrooms, each holding six typical students and six special education students for every half-day session. The program’s capacity is 348 students and it currently -Lakota parent serves approximately 288 students. Each Christina Shepherd class has one preschool teacher, .13 itinerant teacher, 1.5 instructional aides and .5 speech therapists. In addition, the program employs occupational therapists, physical therapists, hearing instructors and sign language interpreters. If the proposal is passed, the BCESC will offer 12 classrooms. The number of Head Start, special education and typical students will vary within the classrooms; none of the classrooms, however, will have more than 16 students. With this structure, the program can serve 64 Head Start students, 152 special education students and 121 typical students. Another variation is that some classrooms have different combinations of preschool teachers, Head Start teachers, Head Start assistants, instructional aides, itinerant teachers and associate degree teachers. One of Shepherd’s concerns is that there is a chance that her son will be in a classroom with an associate’s degree teacher instead of a certified
“I personally do not understand why you would need to fix something that’s not broken.”
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REDUCERESTRUCTURE preschool teacher. However, the Ohio Department of Education states that a preschool staff member or director is required to have “an associate or higher degree in child development or early childhood education, education, home economics, nursing, nutrition, psychology, dental hygiene or social work.” With this in mind, Paget is not worried with associate’s degree educators teaching preschoolers. “Case in point, my son was in preschool for two to three years and one of his best teachers was an associate’s degree teacher,” Paget said. While her son is currently a Lakota preschooler, Shepherd is not sure whether she will continue to keep her son in Lakota’s preschool program or enroll him elsewhere. Shepherd said that she and her husband will have to decide the best route to take because she is uncertain about some of the technicalities of the program. “Right now, I am on the fence [about] whether we [should stay or] find him somewhere else to go,” Shepherd said. “He is comfortable at that school and to take him out and then the next year perhaps to bring him back for kindergarten may be a little stressful. It will [depend] heavily on what the program looks like.”
ELEMENTARY CONSOLIDATING SPECIALS
Shepherd acknowledged that cuts have to be made in Lakota and the Board should look at other options before voting on the current proposal, which will lay off some of the current preschool teachers. “Some of these staff members have been in this program and this is their blood, sweat and tears,” Shepherd said. Although Shepherd believed her son’s preschool experience will be different next year, Lakota superintendent Karen Mantia disagrees. According to Mantia, besides BCESC providing the service, the preschool program will not change. Being familiar with the Head Start program and the Lakota preschool curriculum, Mantia said that Lakota can use both programs and that “things will go along just fine.” “I see it probably growing a bit,” Mantia said. “I think overall, [none of the changes will be very visible.]” Regardless, Shepherd does not agree with any part of the proposal because once the current program is gone, “it’ll be gone forever.” “To keep that program intact to me is so important,” Shepherd said. “If we do get funds, you can build that program back up. To totally dismantle it, it will never come back the way it was.” –Mohinee Mukherjee
Woodland Elementary art teacher Gail Goodall imagines a future in Lakota without art classes.
Reduce specials teachers from 35.8 to 7 Students would have one special per week instead of the current five Instructional time would be increased by 30 minutes each day No reduction in length of school day
TOTAL REDUCTIONS $1.9 MILLION
T
he Woodland Elementary school carnival is in the near future. This year, just like every year, the walls have been covered with painted murals. The theme of the upcoming carnival involves Woodland wolves traveling through the halls that lead to all different countries. The students have been working in groups for weeks in order to perfect their artwork that will be displayed for the community. Gail Goodall, who has been the art teacher since the school opened 20 years ago, is more than proud of her students’ artistic talents. “I always decorate the carnival every year instead of having an art show,” Goodall said. “Everyone contributes, it is a school wide mural that wraps around the whole first floor. Every year the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) picks a theme. It is like a community effort.” But the art class, along with physical education (PE) and music is now faced with a new challenge that does not entail decorating for the annual carnival. With the $1.9 million in cuts at the elementary school level, the unified arts could be reduced to once per week if the Lakota Local School District administration’s proposal passes. The current teachers in the areas of art, music and gym would be cut so only a few would service
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the entire district. Five-year Woodland music teacher Alan Greeb said he is not worried about the cuts at this point because they are just proposals. “We need to be prudent and wait for the [Lakota] Board [of Education’s] decision,” Greeb said. “I think they will carefully look and think about where they are cutting. We just need to continue what we are doing right now.”
The current 42.8 teachers in the areas of art, music and PE will be cut to only seven to service the 10 elementary buildings. The proposal would leave six specialists in art, music and PE and the one unified arts educator would teach all three areas. This would reduce the amount of time students spend focusing on areas other than the core academic classes. The daily 30 minute tutorial and enrichment period is generally used for various learning activities. With the proposal, however, each student would receive an education in a specific area of the unified arts once each week during the enrichment period for a three to four-week time frame. That specialist would then circulate to the next elementary building and another specialist of a different area would step in to begin the abridged curriculum. According to eight-year Woodland Elementary PE teacher Kevin Vidourek, the reduction of gym class activities that are usually completed throughout the school year as well as the current quality of education would decrease if the Board passes the proposal. “The new PE teacher will have to limit what is taught and just cover the basics,” Vidourek said. “[This is] not fair to the students. I am not sure how the PE teachers are going to be able to keep up with the standards that they must follow -Lakota parent based on this new teaching style. Jeff Kursman The teacher will not get to know the student on a personal level.” Lakota elementary school parent Jeff Kursman said there is “no common sense” in almost eliminating the specials from the elementary school curriculum because they are outlets for student creativity. “[The unified arts] provide the release of physical stress,” Kursman said. “They provide for the opening of the creative mind that allows students to perform and excel not only in those particular subjects but in the core subjects as well.” The elimination of the 40-minute unified arts period would eliminate the teachers’ normal planning period. This period would then take place during recess which would be extended to 30 minutes. As a result of the lack of teachers monitoring the playground during recess, 21 aides would be hired to supervise the students during that time. According to assistant superintendent of elementary schools Lon Stettler, the cost of the aides has been calculated into the $1.9 million in budget cuts. “The aides will get to know the students and who their teachers are,” Stettler said. “They are going to know which students to keep an eye on. The principals understand the importance of student supervision during recess. Safety and security are the top priorities.” As a result of limited unified arts, the academic core classes in grades four through six would receive an additional 10 minutes of class time. The resulting 89 extra hours of core subjects from the proposal would allow the teachers to go deeper into the curriculum. Students in kindergarten through grade four will maintain the current 135 and 90 minutes of language arts and mathematics, respectively, but the areas of science and social studies will sustain an additional 30 minutes of added class time. Kursman said that the Board should look into incorporating the unified arts into the core elementary curriculum in order to continue offering these areas. If the core academic educators could teach in the reduced areas, the students could still receive a full education in the arts. “Ultimately, there are choices that this district can make and there are choices that can be made to look at cuts versus efficiencies,” Kursman said. “So far what has occurred in these presentations for the most part
“[The students] lose something that allows them to tap into their passion if you believe in the leftbrain versus the right brain philosophy.”
is a focus for the most part on reductions. Efficiency from a business perspective is offering a similar service or product at a lower cost. There are opportunities to look at utility costs and various mechanisms by which the district could maximize its use of utilities and outsource.” After already discarding 51 positions at the elementary level in the past three years, the class sizes have reached their maximum of 25 students established by Ohio education laws. Because Ohio law does not require schools to provide the unified arts at the elementary level, Stettler said the Board had no option other than to reduce in that area. “We hate reducing in the [unified arts] because we believe in them,” Stettler said. “We don’t disagree with any of the comments that are made by those who come to the microphone and address the board [at the meetings]. The thing is that we have an unsustainable system, so we are forced to make reductions in these areas now.” According to Lakota superintendent Karen Mantia, the unified arts reductions are necessary with the $10.9 million reduction proposal plan for cuts, as it would be an opportunity for the parents and district to work together. With her daughter now a professional artist, Mantia said she used to take her daughter to art museums and different art classes to add to the education the school provided. Mantia said she nurtured her daughter’s art interests and that Lakota parents must take this responsibility as well. “The reductions need to be made due to three consecutive levy failures,” Mantia said. “I think parents need to be our partners. If you know your child has a strong interest in art as my daughter did, then parents should further their [child’s] education.” Though Mantia requested that the Lakota parents collaborate with the Board and administration with all the reductions, Kursman believes that the educational experience at the elementary level would not be the same if the proposal is passed. “[The students] lose something that attracts them to the educational experience,” Kursman said. “You lose something that gives them a foundation in the arts. You lose something that allows them to tap into their passion if you believe in the left-brain versus the right brain philosophy. It allows them to tap into that creativity in ways that maybe the traditional classes don’t.” –Natasha Rausch
Specials Sliced
Seven teachers may serve students of 14 schools. infographic shivang patel
2011-12: 42.8 FTEs
2012-13: 7 FTEs
14 Schools Key:
Art
Unified Arts
Physical Education
Music
REDUCERESTRUCTURE
JUNIOR HIGH ELECTIVE CHANGES Reduce from seven to six periods Reduce staff by about 25.26 Reduce school day by 30 minutes Increase opportunities for high school credit Modernize elective offerings with design and modeling Maximize class sizes
TOTAL REDUCTIONS $1.6 MILLION
A
t 2:30 p.m., the seventh period dismissal bell rings and 600 junior high school students pour out of tiny classrooms into even smaller hallways. The barely-teens shuffle past each other, packing the halls as the sound of slamming lockers, high-pitched shrieks and gum-smacking fills the air. It smells like puberty. These junior high students dart from jazz band, to life skills, to pathways, to physical education (PE) and eighth grade art, barely grateful for the opportunities they have, not cognizant that those classes will not be offered in the same way next year. “The kids don’t talk much about it,” Liberty Junior School (LJS) advanced humanities teacher Rick Cooper said. “I think they are concerned, like when the levy went down kids came in concerned like ‘What does this mean for me?’ But since the proposals, none of my kids really talk about it.” Next year, if the Lakota Local School District’s administrator’s proposal for reductions at the junior high level is passed by the Lakota Board of Education as is, this junior high scene will play out differently and the students will be faced with the reality of the cuts. The kids will be just as naïve and the shrieking and the scent of adolescence will linger in the halls—but instead of the final bell ringing at 2:30 p.m., it will ring at 2:00, and instead of signaling the end of seventh period, it will signal the end of sixth. Junior high students in Lakota will have more to deal with next year than these changes. Beyond shortening the day and reducing to six instructional periods, the proposal calls for maximized class sizes, new technology elective offerings provided through Butler Tech and opportunities to earn high school credit in PE, health and info tech. The proposal, which was presented second in the series of presentations, will potentially amount to a savings of $1.6 million, achieved by the elimination of 25.26 teaching positions at the four junior high schools combined. Hopewell Junior School (HJS) principal Jeff Rouff described the process through which the proposal was created, saying that the four junior high principals met with experts in curriculum, human resources and data from Lakota Central Office, along with Lakota superintendent Karen Mantia on approximately six occasions to discuss potential cuts. The basis of the proposal was formulated by late December. Rouff said that making these decisions was particularly tough for him.
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Physical education and health teacher Connie Garland discusses changes to health curriculum.
“It hurts.” Rouff said in response to the potential cuts. “I have a sixth grader going into junior high next year. I can’t make these cuts blind, they affect me directly. Based off the charge we were given, [these changes are] the best we can provide for our kids. I have to be able to sleep at night with that.” Rouff grew up in Lakota and attended HJS before graduating from Lakota in 1992. He taught in Lakota for 10 years before becoming assistant principal and finally principal at HJS. This is only his first year as principal and yet he is faced with the task of making decisions to dismantle the district in which he has lived his entire life. “It’ll be fewer opportunities and less exploratory classes,” he said. “Middle school data [says] what’s best for middle school kids is that they have a variety of experiences and figure out what they like. We are protecting the core classes but we’re missing out on all those [other] experiences and opportunities.” Two years ago, junior high students in Lakota had eight class periods, a number which was reduced to seven this school year due to budget reductions after previous levy failures. During the 2012-13 school year, that number of periods will drop to six, giving students fewer opportunities to take elective classes. Lakota parent of three Sally Kolks is worried about the loss of opportunities at the junior high level because her eldest daughter, who is a high-achieving student, will be a seventh grader next year. “I feel like with as bright as she is, she’s getting the short end of the stick.” Kolks said. “With [the loss of another period], I don’t think the opportunities will be there. How do you get one-on-one attention, how do you get challenged?” To assist with the reduction of an instructional period at the high school level, junior high students will be given the opportunity to use their info tech, PE and health classes in eighth grade for high school credit, opening up more semesters for electives at the high school level. The current seventh and eighth grade technology applications class will be replaced by the high school informational technology I class, which will be offered in both seventh and eighth grade for high school credit. In addition to this, junior high students will only be required to take physical education in eighth grade as opposed to in both seventh and eighth grade. Students’ opportunities in health education between seventh grade and graduation will be cut from two classes to one, and PE experiences
will be reduced from four to two. Currently, health is mandatory in seventh grade and not offered in eighth. Seventh grade health will be eliminated and replaced by the high school class health class, which will be mandatory in eighth grade for high school credit. The current seventh and eighth grade PE courses will be replaced by the high school team and individual sports course, also to be offered for high school credit. Assistant superintendent of secondary curriculum Ron Spurlock, former principal of LJS, said that these changes will allow families more freedom to set their own priorities. Students can elect to take additional classes at the high school level, which will be offered based on enrollment. “What we advocate is student choice, and students and parents need to drive the education that they want for their children,” Spurlock said. Spurlock also clarified that some health classes will definitely remain at the high school for a few years because students from current eighth grade and above will still need to take health at the high school level. LJS health and PE teacher Connie Garland and LJS health teacher Gina Seifert were saddened to hear about the proposed decrease in gym and health classes. Garland said that with elementary schools dropping health curriculum in lieu of science assessments, having only one health class in junior high is not enough health education. “They don’t get health anymore in elementary school,” Garland said. “Kids get nothing about nutrition and fitness and anti-drugs [in elementary school]. Is this good for students? What [high school students learn] in human sexuality in 10th grade, you can’t teach [junior high] kids. [Junior high kids] throw up from learning about sexually transmitted diseases.” Seifert, who has been teaching in Lakota for 35 years and is retiring
JR. HIGH ELECTIVES infographic irfan ibrahim
With jazz band becoming a zero period and the elimination of art from the seventh and eighth grade curricula, Butler Tech is spear-heading a movement in engineering courses.
Butler Tech Before STEAM2
Life Skills was offered to eighth graders coinciding with Career Pathways via Butler Tech. Both classes were intended with the purpose of teaching both homemaking skills and possible career choices and university options.
Butler Tech After STEAM2
Design and Modeling next year. In the future, Automation and Robotics with Design Studio may be added. These classes will teach students skills they will use in engineering careers
after this school year said that only one health class in high school will not meet the needs of today’s students. “When we first started teaching, kids were built differently,” Seifert said. “These kids are going to have issues as adults. We talk about a balanced kid, emotionally and physically. I believe that kids need to balanced in every way and because of the cuts and they’re not going to get that full, balanced education,” In addition to potential side effects on students’ health levels, this aspect of the proposal may hurt Lakota on the state report card. According to the Ohio Department of Education, a PE component will be included on the Local Report Card, starting in the 201213 school year. This component will not, however, count toward the performance rating. Lakota will be able to choose at which grade it evaluates student’s physical fitness levels. Assistant superintendent of elementary education Lon Stettler said Lakota is still looking at how to comply with this new mandate and it is still a work in progress. -Liberty Junior LJS PE teacher Rico Hill said that Health and Physical gym and health classes are part of the Education teacher experience of junior high–the parts that Connie Garland kids find memorable. “[PE classes] are the things you remember as far as junior high. We want everyone to know that we care about our kids’ health,” Hill said. Chorus and band will still be electives for seventh and eighth grade, and band students will still have the opportunity to take jazz band, which will be offered after school as a seventh period class. On the other hand, art will not be offered as an eighth grade elective, but only as a seventh grade requirement. Spurlock said that this was one of the difficult compromises that had to be made in the process at the expense of student offerings. “The bottom line is to eliminate deficit spending we need to reduce budget by about $9 million,” Spurlock said. “We had to make some tough decisions. What we wanted to do was still offer students the same amount of experiences. To make reductions, we couldn’t offer some experiences in seventh and eighth grade.” Cooper said that students that specialize in art areas might struggle to find their niche in junior high. “Unified arts are getting crushed,” he said. “For some kids, that’s what motivates them to come to school, kids that love art classes or theater or band. The arts present a lot of things in the classroom that we don’t think about. That is where you [solve problems] and manage our own time.” Students looking for extra help will face more challenges next year, as the current offerings of math extensions, language arts plus and double block math will not be available. All core teachers will be teaching the maximum number of students and there will not be core teachers left to provide these extra core classes to some students. The loss of these classes equals the loss of all intervention time for students that need extra help at the junior high level. Rouff notes that this is the most difficult piece of the proposal. “I worry about our kids,” Rouff said. “I worry about the intervention time. We’ve lost all intervention time. We continue to try and do more with less and higher class sizes.” The other prominent possible change in elective offerings is the modernization of classes offered at the junior high schools that are provided by Butler Tech. Currently, eighth graders are offered a choice of life skills and pathways as elective classes. Life skills focuses on
“Kids get nothing about nutrition and fitness and anti-drugs [in elementary school. Is this good for students?”
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REDUCERESTRUCTURE domestic skills like cooking, while Pathways gives students a chance to explore various career fields. Under the proposal, in the upcoming school year, life skills would no longer be offered as an eighth grade elective. These Butler Tech costs would be turned around and utilized for the Butler Tech class, design and modeling, which would be mandatory for seventh graders. During the 2013-14 school year, pathways maybe eliminated in lieu of automation and robotics, also provided by Butler Tech. According to Board member Ray Murray, who serves as the board liaison to the Butler Tech Board of Education, the design and modeling class has been approved by Butler Tech to take the place of life skills for the upcoming school year. Lakota superintendent Karen Mantia is excited about the potential new class offerings in Lakota. “At the junior high [level], things change because we don’t have life skills and pathways,” she said, “but we replace that with a different course which is design and modeling and I think that’s pretty cool stuff.” These new, science-engineering classes are a way to lead junior high students into Project Lead the Way engineering classes at the high school level. Lakota looked to the course offerings of Oakwood City School District’s junior high when deciding which modern classes to offer to junior high students. Oakwood Junior High offers design and modeling for seventh graders along with robotics and automation for eighth graders and an additional elective, energy and environmental. Oakwood Junior High principal Dan Weckstein said that the programs, which are referred to as gateway seven and eight at his school and are in their second year, are great for students.
HIGH SCHOOL DRIVEN BY ENROLLMENT Reduce from seven to six periods Reduce staff by about 42.8 Reduce school day by 30 minutes Consolidate academic and college prep classes Increase flexibility for students Senior “flex-time” Maximize class sizes
I
TOTAL REDUCTIONS $2.7 MILLION
t starts with one period. One less class period in the high school day. With one less period in the day, each day will be half an hour shorter, adding up to 15 fewer school days over the course of a school year. Over the course of high school, that amounts to 60 fewer days of instruction. Potentially, a student currently in junior high school will receive three fewer months of education than a current graduating senior. Students could be missing out on an entire quarter of high school education. Although the changes to high school will save $2.7 million next year, the cuts will impact current and future Lakota Local School District high school students.
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“This has been a very successful effort and I really think it is what our kids need right now,” Weckstein said. “I was skeptical about moving away from industrial arts and technology classes but with research and how this class has gone, it has been a successful program.” Oakwood pays for the classes, unlike Lakota, which would depend on Butler Tech to provide the classes. The gateway programs are very expensive because the students work on Mac computers and use Inventor software, which is the software used by engineers in the industry. Rouff says that the design and modeling class is a “hidden gem.” “It’s an opportunity that our kids have never had before,” Rouff said. “State data shows [science and engineering is] where Ohio jobs are. We looked at what we need and how to provide those opportunities. [Design and modeling] is a quality opportunity.” Next August, when the doors open for the start of the 2012-13 school year, students will have different experiences than in years past. Rouff said that although the core classes will be protected, the junior high experience will be a “huge jump” from previous years. Students will have to cope with fewer classes, loss of intervention time, larger class sizes and fewer elective offerings. However, these changes are coupled with new electives and the promise of more space in schedules at the high school level because of the increased high school credit options. “The time in junior high is an experience that shapes you,” Rouff said. “A lot of the [experiences] that help shape you are going away and it makes me nervous. I can say very truthfully that we are doing more with less every day. Teachers cannot work any harder and they can’t work any smarter. The hurdles just get higher, but we’re going to jump higher.” –Rachel Podnar
In addition to the shortening of the school day, 42.8 teachers will lose their jobs, if the proposal is passed. These changes were presented by East principal Dr. Keith Kline on the Feb. 13, 2012 to the Board and Liberty and West Chester Townships’ residents. “We did simple math,” Kline said. “ For example if we have 700 seniors and we assume they all need a credit of English [to meet graduation requirements]. 700 seniors divided by 26 kids per class divided by six [which is the number of classes one teacher can teach], gives me the number of teachers I need to run senior English.” Kline, however, said that enrollment will not be the only factor which decides whether or not a class is offered in the upcoming school year. Classes may offered in non-traditional ways to minimize costs and still keep the class offering. “If we have a handful of kids here and we have a handful at [Lakota] West [who want to take a class], we may do it via long-distance learning in room 200. We’ll have one teacher at one campus and then an aide at the other campus,” Kline said. “We can’t run classes of just 15 students, that’s not cost-effective.” In addition to long-distance learning, Lakota high school students may have more non-traditional ways of learning via STEAM2 which will be provided through a partnership between Butler Butler Tech and Lakota. At the high school level, STEAM2 will be offered in two paths: pathway to engineering and biomedical science programs, which will be held at East and Lakota West, respectively. Over the course of four school years, Lakota will introduce nine new courses; some will be taught by Lakota teachers and others will be taught by Butler Tech teachers. There are parents who do not agree with the proposal to eliminate teachers, but understand that there are not many other options. “There is no way to capture that savings without cutting. The taxpayers in the community have said they don’t want to pay any money, so the only way we’re going to stay afloat is to balance our budget,” Lakota parent Andrea Henderson said. Each teachers will teach more students to make up for the cuts. This will increase efficiency because each teacher will instruct the maximum
Physical education teacher Rico Hill shows concern for the future of gym classes.
East sophomore Gannon Joyner studies for his English quiz
Woodland Elementary PE teacher Kevin Vidourek helps sixth grader Garrison Grasty with equipment.
Ms. Bergman’s preschool students attend preschool program, which is currently run by Lakota.
East principal Dr. Keith Kline observes students at the main campus.
Superintendent Karen Mantia speaks at a Board of Education meeting.
Junior high advanced humanities teacher Rick Cooper discusses the potential junior high cuts.
Board president Ben Dibble asks questions about the preschool proposal.
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East English teacher Rich Schmaltz is concerned about the potential for larger class sizes.
number of students they can legally teach. The Lakota Educators Association (LEA) has no input in the number of teachers reduced, but it does make sure that that Article VI of the Master Contract agreement, which deals with reduction in force, is properly followed. With fewer teachers, there will only be six instructional periods in the upcoming school year instead of seven, if the proposal is passed by the Board. With the elimination of one period, the other six periods will increase in length by two minutes each. Teachers would teach six periods as they do this year, but this year, teachers have planning periods that are at different times throughout the day. If the proposal is approved, all teachers will have their planning period from 7:15 to 8:05 a.m. because the Article XII, section 12.0502 of the teacher contract, which is effective July 1, 2011 to June 30, 2014, states that teachers have 10 percent of their workday as planning time. This would mean that all teachers would have to plan for their classes at the same time. This would also eliminate remaining teacher duty periods, consequently, teachers will not be able to help secretaries in the main office, will not be able to keep an eye on students during lunch and will not be able to help students in the East Learning Center. Students’ day will start at 8:05 a.m. and end at 2:40 p.m. This means that the length of students’ day will decrease from six hours and 39 minutes to six hours and five minutes, excluding lunch. “I need the extra period to take extra electives,” East sophomore Gannon Joyner said. “I was hoping to take engineering electives which will help me with my major—engineering—but that may not be an opportunity I will have [next year].” Because students will only have 24 opportunities to earn the necessary credits for graduation, the graduation requirement will change from 21 credits to 20 credits. According to Kline, the change will help those students who may or may not graduate because they have failed some classes, essentially being a safety net. “I think the high achieving students will earn more than enough credits required to graduate. If you look at six periods, times four years, that doesn’t give you much space to mess up,” Severns said. “I
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think the credit requirement change is providing a little bit of relief [for students who may fail a couple classes] but it certainly does not hurt our high-achieving students, who will continue to take courses all the way through.” Currently, students can take classes in one of three “tracks:” Advanced Placement/honors, college preparatory (CP) or academic. The proposed change would consolidate the CP and academic tracks to maximize efficiencies in the master schedule, consequently increasing the rigor for students currently on the academic track. “I like the idea of forcing -East English teacher kids to step up. We have some Rich Schmaltz students who see that if they have an easier way to earn credits [needed for graduation], they will choose that,” Severns said. “If we take that option away from them, we hope they will step up their game to that expectation.” Schmaltz believes this change, although it has its pros, may not be beneficial for all students. “Academic track sizes have always been smaller, so the teacher can provide more help,” Schmaltz said. “But if we distribute the students who need more intervention, equally throughout all the classrooms, my concern personally is losing some students simply because I am dividing my attention 27 ways instead of 20 ways. The reduction of one period would also mean that East and Lakota West students will not be able to take as many classes they have been
“My concern personally is losing some students simply because I am dividing my attention 27 ways instead of 20 ways.”
REDUCERESTRUCTURE
Time For a Change infographic shivang patel
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able to this year. “I know I need to take health, gym and performing arts classes next year, in order to meet graduation requirements, but that may be harder with only 6 periods next year,” East freshman Abby Schwetschenau said. Like many students, there are parents in the community who are unhappy and concerned that the reduction to six instructional periods will hurt students’ education in Lakota. “I understand the need, I understand the cost benefit, but it’s not what I want to happen, as a taxpayer and as a parent,” said Tanya Jolliffe, whose children have and are attending Lakota. “I will make sure my sophomore gets the same education as my child, who graduated did, but I am not sure every child [in Lakota] will have that. The course offerings for the 2012-13 school year will be driven by students’ enrollment in classes according to Kline. Student athletes, however, are required to take at least five instructional periods of learning in order to be eligible to play an interscholastic sport. Athletes, marching band members and cheerleaders also may have the option to be exempt from the 0.5 physical education (PE) credit requirement for graduation. If the proposed changes are approved, students who participate in two full season of interscholastic athletics, marching band or cheerleading will have a PE waiver. Schwetschenau, who plays soccer for East, said that this is will a nice option for her and she might take this opportunity in order to take other classes instead of PE. Currently, Lakota students have the flexibility to enroll in post secondary education option and take classes correspondently. With the new changes, Lakota seniors will have even more flexibility in their schedule for the upcoming school year, as they will only have to take as many courses needed to meet graduation requirements. “This credit flexibility] may give [seniors] enough latitude to do the Post Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) or work, do some internships, and gain that valuable experience,” Kline said. “We see this option for students that may open more doors.” This flexibility may allow students more diverse opportunities their senior year. According to a Spark survey of 585 students, 15 percent of current sophomores and juniors plan on enrolling in PSEO next year. “If Lakota wants to stay an “excellent” school district, it shouldn’t require the bare minimum for seniors,” Joyner said. Regardless of their age difference, both Joyner and Jolliffe feel that Lakota will not be the district it once was due to cuts. “I wish to see the community come together and value the education they have,” Jolliffe said. “I think there have been 10 years of excellence
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and [the community] doesn’t have anything to compare it with. They take it for granted. They don’t stop to look at other districts and see where they could go. Even though [Little Miami Local School District] was in our backyard they didn’t pay attention.” –Shivang Patel
F ATHLETICS MAINTAINING PARTICIPATION Maintain $500,000 contribution from General Fund Only internal cuts Maintain pay-to-play fees Junior high sports continue to be self-sufficient These changes are not part of the $10.9 million in cuts
TOTAL REDUCTIONS $1.6 MILLION
or people like Hopewell Junior School athletic director Tom Howard, fall means more than the start of school and colder weather. It means the beginning of 13-hour school days spent teaching math as well as managing junior high athletics. It means time spent ordering buses, supervising home events, counting money earned, scheduling games, keeping track of which groups use the building and stocking the concession stands. Howard is exceedingly busy trying to balance his schedule. If proposed cuts from the Lakota Local School District to the athletic budget are approved, Howard will loose his position as a junior high athletic director. His position would be absorbed by East associate athletic director Craig Ulland, who would be taking on the busy schedule of Howard and the Liberty Junior School athletic director, all while trying to help maintain high school athletics. The administration has proposed cuts of $315,000 in order to maintain the districts athletic budget within the funding from the combination of athletic revenues and the $500,000 provided by the general fund. Essentially, cuts will occur to athletics but athletics will continue to receive $500,000 from the general fund. These cuts will be accomplished by removing an athletic trainer, 16 coaching contracts, one
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REDUCERESTRUCTURE personnel in athletic maintenance, and four junior high athletic directors, along with decreasing the amount spent in game help support, awards and communications. According to executive director of business operations Chris Passarge, the proposed athletic cuts differ from the other cuts presented in the attempt to decrease the districts $9 million deficit. For this school year, athletics is currently using a reserve fund to help pay for some costs. Due to the depletion of this reserve fund, cuts will have to be made next year in order to make athletics internally balanced. “[The administration] is going to reduce some positions and some opportunities so we want to include [athletic cuts in the proposals] even though it’s not part of the $9 million,” Passarge said. “The board could come back and say ‘we want [athletics] to be part of the $9 million’ which means we would have to do farther reductions within athletics, beyond what we already proposed.” Passarge’s goal when making cuts to the athletic budget was to refrain from raising the pay-to-play prices for athletes. In the 2011-12 school year, participation fees for high school and junior high students rose from $300 to $550 and $200 to $350, respectively. With the increase in price, junior high sports are now completely self funded and the general fund contribution for athletics decreased from $1.5 million to $500,000 per year. Now all the money from the general fund goes directly to high school athletics. In addition, the family cap and sport fee waivers were removed. Due to these cuts, athletics saw a significant decrease in participation in sports, something Passarge does not want to occur again. “The feedback I got from the community group about a year ago was if you go above $550 athletics as we know it at Lakota would probably going be nonexistent,” Passarge said. In order to maintain participations rates, Passarge looked for other methods of cutting. One way to do so was by reducing personnel. If the Lakota Board of Education approves the proposal, The associate athletic directors for both East and Lakota West will take over the duties currently controlled by the junior high athletic directors. This would save the district $33,375 combined for all four junior high athletic directors. Howard was surprised when he learned of the proposal to reduce his position. “The $350 the students paid [this year] made us selfsufficient, meaning we paid for all costs associated with junior high school athletics directly -Lakota Executive Director from the fees the students paid,” Howard said. “My reaction was of Business Operations ‘how are we saving any money Chris Passarge if we don’t cost [the district] any money?’ [The junior high athletic directors] were never asked our opinion. It seems to me the best people to ask about what needs to be done are the people directly involved in the daily operation.” Both Howard and Ulland agree that it will be difficult to have the high school’s associate athletic directors pick up the extra work. “It’s definitely going to be a challenge and it’s something we aren’t used to,” Ulland said. “But we have to adapt to the challenge that faces us. We will take it head on and do the best that we can.” Aside from the reduction of athletic directors in the district, if the proposal were to pass, 12 supplemental coaching contracts will be removed at both East and Lakota West. All position cuts were dispersed evenly throughout the two high schools. Although some high school coaches will be let go, many of the
“If you go above $550 [for pay-to-play], athletics as we know it at Lakota would probably be non-existent.”
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East freshman athletic director Craig Ulland will have to assume more responsibilities in the upcoming school year
teams’ head coaches are avoiding having to choose a coach to dismiss. For instance, during the 2011-12 year, both the East varsity assistant bowling coach and varsity assistant quiz team position were not filled, even though they originally had been budgeted for. Next year those positions will not be budgeted for at all and is thus considered a savings. East varsity head track coach John Lindeman feels his team needs the current amount of coaches due to the large number of athletic participation in track and the specialization of each coach. He plans to maintain all of his coaching staff through fundraising in order to continue to pay for that additional coach without the district’s funding. Lindeman hopes to pay that particular coach as close as he can to the amount the district would have. “It’s kind of hard to ask kids and parents that are paying $550 already to do [fundraising],” Lindeman said. “If you have to do it to get coaches, there is nothing else you can do. We are all very specialized in what we do. You need [a coach] there everyday in those positions if you want to be the best at it.” Aside from cutting coaches and athletic directors, Passarge also felt a natural cut was the athletic trainer at Lakota West. Currently Atrium Medical Center provides East trainers through an agreement. Similar to other school across the southwest Ohio area, Atrium works in East for no charge. Atrium benefits because they receive free advertising. Passarge hopes to pick up the same model at West saving the district $100,515. “Its beneficial on both sides,” Passarge said. “You’re looking at a few hundred thousand dollars in training services that they provide to us on an annual basis at no cost.” Through the proposal, the administration hopes to save additional money with small savings in various areas. Reduction in communications, by removing phones that employees are not using, would save $2,500. An additional $11,000 would be saved by discontinuing the awards program at East, which includes letters at the end of an athlete’s season. While Passarge believes these cuts have little effect on the students, Passarge does have a few worries about the reduction of contracted services, a smaller cut that would only result in $7,323 in savings. Contracted services includes personnel who work scoreboards, ticket takers, announcers and police security. The largest amount of reduction in this category would come from the reduction of the security. Bryant believes that this is not an ideal situation to have at a high school. “Some people will look at that like ‘is that the safest thing to do?’ but we aren’t in a perfect world or perfect financial situation right now,” Bryant said. East school resource officer deputy Doug Hale acknowledges that there are some difficulties with enabling Bryant to reduce the amount of
officers at games, but fully supports helping the districts needs. “You have to adjust to the times. If [Lakota] is in money problems I don’t mind helping the district out,” Hale said. “So if I can reduce one or two deputies working, I’m knocking one or two deputies out of money and I hate that, but then again, I have got to think of the people here.” Bryant plans to make up for the lack in police officers by staffing teachers as security at games. Although the teachers would be paid, according to Bryant, it will result in 75 percent savings.
DISTRICT-WIDE REDUCE AND RESTRUCTURE 49.88 positions will be eliminated Reduction to one school resource officer for each township Reduction of 13.15 clinic aides and 11 school nurses Reduction of both Dean of Students positions
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TOTAL REDUCTIONS $3.5 MILLION
lready below Ohio and comparative school districts’ average, the Lakota Local School District may have even fewer administrators next year if the administration’s proposal is passed. Reductions announced at the administrative level will cut into all departments at Lakota Central Office and result in approximately 50 positions being reduced, amounting to about $3.5 million in savings. At the March 5 Lakota Board of Education meeting, each department head from Central Office announced the potential cuts to their departments. Treasurer Jenni Logan said that the Treasurer’s Department may lose three employees with restructuring of current positions. The responsibilities of the payroll manager will be assumed by the consolidation of the current accounting manager position to accountant/ payroll administrator. Another consolidation will occur by moving another accountant to the position of chief budgetary administrator. The Business Operation’s Department, headed by Executive Director Chris Passarge oversees a variety of areas from transportation to athletics to grounds management. Five positions could be reduced from transportation, most notably one school resource officer. In the past, schools in both Liberty Township and West Chester Township had two school resource officers, until one of the officers for Liberty Township was reduced. The current proposal will take the reductions one step further by eliminating one of the two school resource officer in West Chester. “One of the things I wanted to make sure is understood from the operation standpoint is that we always look for efficiencies. We are never stagnant, always looking for opportunities,” Passarge said. Curriculum will be the hardest hit, due to the restructuring of the entire department. According to Secondary Curriculum Assistant Superintendent Ron Spurlock, this department is responsible for
While individuals such as Bryant are fearful of the affects the cuts will have, audience members voiced concern over the amount of cuts being made in athletics. Passarge emphasized to those that dislike the athletic cuts, the proposal is not final. “Its a proposal. It’s the first stab at it,” Passarge said. “It may not be the final outcome of what happens. “For me it was just trying to keep opportunities available at the lowest possible price.” –Kaitlin Lange
curriculum, instruction and assessment. Spurlock said that in the coming years, this department’s main task will be moving Lakota onto the Common Core curriculum, which will be a “monumental” task. “There is a lot of work going into the core standards and teachers will need help. There not one plan that I have in front of me that I love.” Spurlock said. If the cuts are approved by the Board, the curriculum department will lose 19 positions. This will include consolidating two curriculum directors into one position and reducing six media specialists across the District to two specialists. Another reduction will be removing 10 English as a Second Language (ESL) Aides from the ESL department and placing them as aides in other departments. The Special Services Department will also face reductions, with the elimination of 18.35 positions. Special Services encompasses special education, student services and gifted education, and it must comply with a variety of federal laws to service these students. Next year, caseloads for special needs classrooms would be maximized, clinic aides and licensed school nurses will be reduced in lieu of full-time “To everyone registered nurses (RN). Community member Sherri who voted no Hunkenmuller expressed her concern for for the levy, the change in nurse policy. She explained who refused that although RNs are licensed by the to put up a state of Ohio, they may not be prepared levy sign in for the workload of a school nurse. She took a job as a clinic aide with a registered their yard, or nurse license and then decided to return who failed to to school to become certified by the Ohio talk to their Department of Education to be a school neighbor about nurse. “[School nurses] go to be licensed so the importance we can be helpful to school, community of the levy, and educators, not just to hand out how dare you medications and first aid. Just having one to shirt your licensed school nurse for Lakota would be responsibility very detrimental,” she said. One community member received to the children applause throughout the auditorium with of this their assessment of Lakota’s current community.” financial situation. -Lakota “I think we need to be reminded that community it is a community responsibility to educate member our kids,” she said. “To everyone who voted no for the levy, who refused to put up a levy sign in their yard, or who failed to talk to their neighbor about the importance of the levy, how dare you to shirk your responsibility to the children of this community. The administration is doing what they can with what they have.” -Rachel Podnar
*As of press time, supplemental and other remaining reductions have not been proposed to the Lakota Board of Education and the community, and the Board will vote on all proposed reductions on March 12.