Re: What Is at Stake? by Albert

I just read on my Facebook that a friend of mine who teachers in Paradise Valley School District has 35 or 36 students in each of the English classes she teachers. That is unnacceptable as far as I am concerned. I have read similar accounts in the newspapers about larger class size, but that many in High School English? It don't teach, but I care about the quality of our schools and cannot believe our legislature wants to give tax breaks to corporations rather than fund schools.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Eugenia Ward

It breaks my heart to see what our AZ state legislature is doing when they continue to cut Education funding. I am a retired school teacher of Chino Valley District, a little rural community, that struggles in normal times and now it has gone to a 4 day week 10 hours a day... to save $$$ on gas for buses and utilities in buildings. Many faculty and staff were riffed due to the budget and our students suffer for it. How sad that our legislators are dismantling our public education system...

Re: What Is at Stake? by Ramie

Our high school can now have up to 40 kids per classroom! Many of the math classes do, in fact, have 40 kids in there. Teachers at our school have had their pay cut on top of this and the school has had to let teachers go as well as the social worker and some of our counselors. As a parent, I am appalled and horrified by our state's lack of responsibility -- it's insane what they are doing. If it wasn't for the real estate crisis, I'd be moving to another state because of our legislature's lack of values, particularly Bob Burns, the Senate Majority leader.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Rev Liana Rowe

My daughter's Honors World History class has 42 students in it. The class that immediately preceeds it has another 40. Our children deserve an education, not to be relegated to sardine cans with text books that are falling apart because the district can't buy new ones.

On the first day of school this year, four busses broke down all at the same time. Those children sat on those busses for over an hour in 110 degree heat waiting to be transferred to another bus that had to complete its route first. The transportation department has not enough money to maintain their busses adequately much less have backup busses on the lot that would facilitate timely transfer of students safely.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Ronda S. Reed, M. Ed.

My job is at stake, because I don't have one. I got cut due to the economic conditions.

There is no hope of reentering fulltime to teaching. I have applied for parttime teaching as a sub. This is sad because I have 4 degrees, considered "highly qualified" under federal law, and work hard to service kids as a reading specialist.

I have had to reinvent the wheel in order to keep my car and home. Financially, I am strapped, but with no income I have no way to compromise in order to repay my debts. This nearly killed me--I spent time in the hospital due to the emotional stress over my financial loss.

Just want folks to know that I have put everything I have, my folks have, too, in becoming the best teacher/educator. It's sad to have to step back, watch those about you who have more years service than my 22 years keep their jobs.
I am sole care provider to my 82 year old mother that has serious health conditions with Copd and diabetes. My efforts in my work are to care for her and myself. No government has any empathy for this, but the public needs to know that I don't take my situation lightly. I feel very deserving of keeping my job, and am disgusted at losing it.

The folks that run my last district are greedy and doubledipping Smartschoolers. This is where the money has gone. About a third of the administration are retirees. The school board president is a state legislator downtown, which I think violates conflict of interest.

We need to support children and their education. I don't know what it will take to turn this status in state budget--maybe a weeklong boycott???

Re: What Is at Stake? by T Else

I am appalled by the fact that the state can sacrifice the future of our nation and our children to save them money. Didnt we just receive BAILOUT $$$? How are we receiving extra money for our schools, and still having to cut budgets, enlarge classes and put teachers and children at risk?

i personally have 33-34 kids in each of my classes, and believe that i truly can not do the best at reaching them with so many minds and behaviors to intervene on. i know children in some of my classes are suffering b/c of the kids i CANT transfer to another classroom. when did teaching become more about being surrogate parents, teaching discipline and monitoring behavior instead of actually being able to TEACH our content? i almost feel drowned out by the "noise" of so many children in the room, and feel like i cant reach any of them.

my kids already don't have books they can work on homework with, so there is little or no reinforcement. and i already spend about half of my 301 money on materials for my classes. its almost ridiculous.

my district has froze my pay schedule and wont be able to advance me until they are sure there is money available. though the prospect is looking dismal. teacher already get paid less than we deserve for all the work and service we provide, now we dont even get the monetary funds to back us while we work?

while i am grateful i have not be RIF'ed, it is heartbreaking to work with students who have little or no respect for authority, do not value education, and place no importance on their future or the future of those in the their lives. i have actually hear students say they dont care about passing or going to college, b/c school is stupid and useless anyway. what happened to our generations?

i seriously have been considering homeschooling my son, to ensure that he is provided an education conducive to learning and progress. i understand the position of schools and districts, but i truly believe that i have to start with my son to make an impact on this world and his future is my sole concern.

i wish there was an easy fix to the whole problem with US education, but its been a spiraling issue for years. we need to stop making excuses for schools and kids, fund and support our teachers and their efforts in the classroom, and push our children to gain higher education and a better lifestyle.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Pam Selby

I feel the pinch in my kindergarten classroom with a beginning roster of 24 five year olds and more to come. Studies have consistently shown class size to be a huge factor in children's learning, so two years ago our district invested in smaller class sizes for Kindergarten and First grades, where children are building the base for all their school experience and learning. Now this small class size is an impossible goal and we lost many good teachers to layoffs. The children have less individual attention and activities are planned with croud control in mind. Learning will happen, but in a less individualized, more whole group way. Some students will slip through with unfulfilled potential and/or unmet needs.
As a teacher there is the very real worry of salary reduction and furlough at a time when my work load has greatly increased. Right now we are working without a contract. Why would anyone go into education at this time in such a politically hostile state? I was shocked to find out how many of our state legislators never went beyond high school, and believe that may be one reason they place so little value on education as an important commodity.
School quality is a prime consideration when businesses look at a community for possible investment. Families want quality schools for their children when they look at accepting jobs and moving to a location. Universities support countless small businesses in the metropolitan areas. In the big picture, our state's economic future is at stake.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Tamey Zollner

Here's an excerpt from the email I sent to Gov. Brewer this week...I am a second grade teacher at Superstition Springs Elementary School in Gilbert, and I have 31 students! Due to the extreme cuts to our district's budget, my increased numbers include six ELL students who are not receiving the quality of concentrated service that the ADE requires. I also have four gifted students who are having to settle for the cluster model of instruction because their gifted teachers have lost their jobs.
My ten students who tested last week at a pre-primer reading level are not getting the amount of double dose instruction that they require because my time has been spread so thin.
...So sad that their futures are suffering so!



Re: What Is at Stake? Who REALLY cares about education in America? Do something! by Mrs. Defeated

The frustration continues...yet I love my students and I teach in a very good, but short teacher-staffed school.

My middle school classes, full of 12-13-14 year olds, are stacked. I have 185 students that I am responsible for. Daily we hear of more cuts and adjustments our school is making. This niddle school has cut teachers, lost programs, no monitors, no librarian or library,(it now sits dark). We teach in overflowing classes, no breaks for teachers doing monitor duty, lunch duty, playground duty before and after school plus helping to cover the front office on top of calling parents, planning and instructing.

Our technology tech was axed two years ago, so if we have technical issues with computers, software, or anything, we put in a request for help & pray; it took my district four months to respond last year. What do you do if you have no laptop, white board, paper, and cannot access the Internet with technology we are supposed to structure lessons with to reach this computer savvy generation? I lay awake at night worrying if my equipment will function for the next day of instruction. I plan extra, always having a backup plan just in case but it wears on you. Now supplies are being rationed; I will have to buy reams and reams of paper myself. In language arts, how do I teach without a library, no paper, no money for books, no technology or assistance that I can count on with packed classes and no monitor to call to remove unruly students?

Some electives, p.e., and sports were cut; some have been reinststed with an agreement with coaches who are teachers willing to stay until 5 or 6 at night (This is after arriving at 7 a.m.). These students need to try on classes/subjects through electives and need physical activity available to get in shape, stay active, and to get the ya-yas out or the classrooms are more raucous. Can you see yourself teaching in this environment? And I have not even addressed how we are handling discipline in this atmosphere! Just know proper discipline adds another two levels of stress and turmoil.

As a hardworking teacher who is highly qualified, I am just keeping the holes plugged in the dyke with all ten of my fingers and toes. My largest language arts class has 38 students--wiggly, moody middle schoolers, who each do well with individual accountability. It is impossible to give them the attention needed. This will be the third year with no raise and I am making $32K working easily 10 hour days. Who would go into education today? Who will stay?

I love teaching. This is my calling. These are such wonderful students who are learning how to learn, treat others, be accepted, strive for success, and build a resume for the future. It breaks my heart to see what is happening to their future and our future, as a result.

Many, many adults have done this to our Arizona education. Some are off in Washington now, others continue in their lucrative jobs, with no conviction about the future of our state. Left in the dust, a few of us mind the store, trying to reach the next generation in devastating eucational conditions with no hope on the horizon, remembering how well WE once learned in a simpler more accountable time, far, far away.

Re: What Is at Stake? by I. M. Tired

Frankly, I just don't understand the disconnect? It's not rocket science!I have been teaching in the same elementary school/district for twenty years. This year we began under the worst conditions I have ever experienced. Classes are large, despite declining enrollment. (Charter schools are looking better to parents everyday in AZ); Elementary Media Specialists have been replaced by library clerks (a backward step for 21st Century learners); Office staff, specifically the clerk, has been reduced to half-time (she's the one who can save the school $$ if only she could keep up with daily paperwork);Special Education staff is overworked and under supported in their efforts to actually help kids (each year we end up with at least two students who would be better served in an altered environment that doesn't exist any more on our campus;Our program for Gifted students, now learning and being challenged through a pull out model in an accelerated and enhanced curriculum is marked for re-assessment and headed towards a "cluster model", which places identified gifted students in a larger classroom and puts the burden of challenge and individualization back on a classroom teacher. (more $$ saving at the expense of teachers and students) Moral is the lowest I have ever seen (and all this is before the students even show up!
Educators, American schools and American students don't have a chance if we don't wake the public (and shake the lawmakers) out of the deadly status quo they are drowning us in.
Many teachers who can are considering other career options- American classrooms are falling behind other countries as we speak, and teachers alone cannot facilitate the changes we need- after all, we are busy TEACHING everyday. Perhaps not for long, but for now...........

Re: What Is at Stake? by Pam Trainor

My husband and I are both educators. While I have my own issues and concerns, his is worse. He teaches a 5th-6th grade ELD class in an urban district, with 42 students on the roster. Most of these students read at a primer or pre-primer level. There are 10 or more languages represented in his class. How is he supposed to teach these pre-emergent and emergent English speakers anything this year?

Re: What Is at Stake? by Mr. P

I teach in a school that had a wonderful atmosphere. Now, that same school has overcrowded classrooms and frustrated teachers. I now teach two grade levels and way more students than I did last year. We have lost many good teachers. I have taken a three percent pay cut. I listen to the concerns of other teachers and I wonder about our legislature. Where do their children attend school? My own children are in a crowded public school. The republican legislature is trying to destroy public education. However, they forget who works in the public schools. We are strong teachers who will never let our students fail unless we can no longer breathe! Unfortunately, the republican legislature plays on that fact.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Ronda S. Reed, M. Ed.

As an update, still unemployed, awaiting notice to go to court downtown for bankruptcy hearing.

Would love to invite any and all Smartschoolers to join me in Federal Court. Especially the human resource supt in NW Phoenix district where I worked, along with the last admin I had that no longer is working there, either.

Politically, the govt. here is still loony. We need to support teaching for the sake of progressing future generations, this should be the first priority. AZ still doesn't get it.

Finally, I am still actively engaged in jobsearch--if any of you need help, call me! Thanks.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Deb Esparza

At our school we have lost 3 teachers, our librarian, our counselor, our computer tech and our full time office manager. We have some parents that are learning to help out in the library but there are no library or research lessons. Our computers are from 1999 and many are no longer working. There is a wait time to get a District technician to fix them. Some can no longer be fixed. Parents had to raise over $70,000 so that we would not have to lose another teacher and have combination classes of 27 or more at every grade level. They also raised money for supplies as there was no money for this. We do not have enough playground monitors for the number of students that we have. We have had to cut our substitute budget and hope teachers stay healthy. Not a great situation with the H1N1 threat. All in all I would say this is the worst I have ever seen in 26 years of teaching. It's very sad how little children matter to our legislature.

Re: What Is at Stake? by R Kelly

I work in special education in a district in Phoenix. Morale is low and the stress level is high. When I walked into my work area this August, the air conditioning wasn't working and myself and two other women had to struggle to move all the furniture including heavy desks and file cabinets into the classroom and office because there was no other staff to do this. We have been told plainly that there is no money for supplies. The top floor of our main school building was closed to save on air conditioning and maintenance. I am in a building across the baseball field along with some special education teachers and their classroom because there's no more room in the crowded lower floor of the main building.We used to have a printer in our office, but since it broke, there is no money to replace it. We have to walk two blocks to pick up anything we print, to get our mail, to copy anything, and to meet with parents. This is time we could be spending on more important things. If your computer breaks, you put your name on a list and wait. Staff has been cut and classes are larger. The severity of students I'm seeing coming into special education has increased dramatically in the past ten years, but the resources to help us including assistants, clerical and technical support have decreased. Things are bad for all the staff, but in many ways, special education has it worse than others. I'm leaving education in Arizona after this year. I feel that because of the lack of assistants, some of the special education classrooms I work in are dangerous. Myself and the teachers I work with are regularly bruised, punched and bitten. We've succeeded in protecting the kids from any serious injuries so far, but the potential for serious injury is real. There is no money to place these potentially dangerous students in special private programs that we used to have for extreme cases, but we're still responsible for them. I don't feel good anymore being a part of this system. It is discouraging to work so hard for something you believe in and feel is important for our community, and to have so little appreciation.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Ms. M

I teach high school math and my class load is 158 for 5 classes. The incoming freshman have to have 4 years of math to graduate and it is extremely difficult and frustrating not to be able to give adequate time to each child. I have been told to wait it out as it will get better but children deserve a quality education TODAY. I have thought about moving to a state that is more pro-public education as I received notification from my local about the provisions being faced with contracts and RIF procedures that our "teacher friendly" legislature passed. The insults to injury keep piling up and I would love the legislators to shadow me for two weeks and then a great discussion would follow about the state of public education in Arizona. My question to the governor and legislators is are you part of the problem or the solution?

Re: What Is at Stake? by anonymous

Ms. PO'd

I was recently told that staffing in my dept. will be cut due to declining enrollment. This was told to me despite having 35 or more students in each of my classes and an abundance of overcrowded classes school wide. I have more than 10 years experience in the same subject, I'm highly qualified, I coach, I do club sponsorship, I attend school functions, I have a spotless teaching record and exemplary evaluations. Despite all the work, late nights, and excellence in teaching, I feel that it's just not good enough anymore and that I may lose my job. Why? Because after 10 years, it's possible that experienced teachers are too expensive in the eyes of the legislature and school districts. They can hire 2 new teachers for the price of one long-term employee. With the new language passed by Governor Brewer, language that removes all safeguards such as tenure, contract dates, and salary minumum guarantees per year, it's no wonder teachers are at an all time LOW. Morale and passion are hard to keep up when job security is constantly threatened. Employees need a decent salary and to know that if they work hard they will be staffed.
What protections or incentives are left?
What shady dealings can we expect?
Why would our own state deal teachers such a terrible blow, when we are in the trenches daily, working hard for the children of this state? We don't ask for much, we knew salaries would never be high, but to pass down anti-teacher language and provisions like this is unconsionable. Our jobs are hard enough.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Anonymous

When are the teachers going to stand up and be heard?

It seems that every time you turn around their are more things put in place to hinder learning, but no one does anything.

It is time for teachers to get a voice and be heard. So far I have not seen anybody stand up and defend teachers or what is required of teachers in the classroom.

Piece by piece quality education is being removed.

Come together and do something to stop the decline in education and preserve your love of teaching.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Jordy Verrill

Every teacher is having a difficult time, overwhelmed with extra responsibilities and worried about their employment security. Together these conditions are the kiss of death that will crush spirits. With the increase in stress, the disconnect between teachers and administrators (who are often protected from the realities of classrooms) seem to be at an all-time high.

I hope that AEA is making some progress on preserving some of the securities of tenure. In spite of the public's negative perception of tenure, these securities have given teachers freedom to be Arizona's strongest and most outspoken advocates for student learning.

AEA...We need more updates on the progress working with Arizona's legislature! Is it a lost cause??? Is there hope??? I'll be checking the website to keep updated.

Re: What Is at Stake? by Jordy Verrill

Some questions:

Is the removal of tenure aimed at primary/secondary school teachers only, or all of Arizona's public employees? Will university tenure be revoked? Will the seniority system that affects police and fire department employees be revoked too?

If not, why are teachers the primary target? Please help me understand!


Re: What Is at Stake? by Anonymous

We can whine all we want but nothing promising will happen unless teachers in this state stick together and have a state wide walkout (yes I mean STRIKE)!

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Re: What Is at Stake? by Anna

My father is a teacher here in Arizona. He has 63 students in his sixth grade orchestra. 63 SIXTH GRADERS, ALL WITH NOISE MAKING DEVICES. It sounds terrible.

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