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| Madison Metropolitan School District Madison, Wisconsin Art Rainwater, Superintendent | ||
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| BOARD OF EDUCATION Minutes for Student Senate April 17, 2007 |
Doyle Administration Building 545 West Dayton Street Madison, Wisconsin |
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Discussion was held on the upcoming press conferences at the Capitol on Thursday morning and at Memorial High School on Thursday evening.
1. Previous Cuts
After school math and science tutoring labs at la Follette HS - teacher was paid to stay after school to staff it.
Lowering class sizes, particularly at the lower grades, leads to higher achievement among minority and low income students. This closes the achievement gap. Raising class sizes means lowering minority student achievement.
2. Visuals
Many textbooks can be used to show their wear and tear. The Middle East History textbooks are from the 1960's.
3. Stories
Advertisements have to be obtained to produce and publish the school newspapers.
Student who was suffering from depression could not access support services within his school (Jeff)
The Student Council advisor at one high school can no longer serve in that capacity because they have to add another course to their teaching load as a result of the reduced staffing.
Advisors are paying for various club expenses out of their own pocket because discretionary funds are no longer available to clubs.
Students have fewer course options as allocations are reduced.
· The Marketing & Sales course waiting time is now two and one half years.
· The Advanced Placement Government course is now only offered in two sections which means that some students will never be allowed to take it within their four year tenure.
· Foundations in 2-and 3-Dimensional Art is a prerequisite course and is now only offered once which implies that advanced course options are inevitably reduced for more students.
Oftentimes, the students who are most affected by the reduced offerings are those without the knowledge of how to work within the system to obtain the most desired courses. This generally equates to minority and low income students.
Annual junior student-guidance counselor conferences have been changed at one high school from one-on-one/face-to-face to a group meeting. The same change occurred for parents who now longer have one-on-one times with counselors. This again has a more significant negative affect on students who do not have the same support networks for such things as college and career planning.
"We're cutting off fingers to save the hand."
"We've cut through the muscle and now we are reaching the bone."
Classrooms do not have telephones in each room leaving them susceptible to crises.
At one high school, the computers used in the Introduction to Computer Programming often shutdown unexpectedly.
At one high school, the lights shut off as the power was reduced due to a damaged XXXXXXXX.
Due to custodial staff cuts, the school is no longer open for evenings when students want to access the LMC. In addition, athletic teams can no longer use the facilities for weekend practices.
Elimination of the strings program has reduced the interest in orchestra offerings at middle and high school.
As intercity sports team transportation was eliminated it has made it harder for students without access to transportation to participate in athletics.
4. Outline of Presentation
Opening - Jacinth or Joe
· Why we are here
· Concerns
· We are the faces behind these cuts
Testimony
· Support services - Jeff
· Tutoring services/ Journalism - Max
· Athletics (transportation)- Max
· Club support - Benny
· Class reduction/ Class selection - Laura
· Increasing elementary class size - Jair
Closing - Joe or Jacinth
· Call to Action
· What have other communities
Visuals
· Laura - Middle East History Book
· Henry - Architecture book
· Max - Old books
E-Mail Jacinth with outline by 8:00 p.m. on 4/18/07.