Residents need info on student-to-teacher ratio
Let me say a word, or two, for the retired, those on a fixed income, and those without children in the school system.
On the front page of the latest Sun, there were two articles that said after the Council reviews the failed school budget, it will make cuts, if needed, if it sees fit to do so (and pass the budget without giving the voters another chance to vote on it).
Why then, did the voters bother to vote “no” and fail the budget, in the first place? This has happened in the recent past.
More than 11,000 voters voted and 5,856 voted “no.” But no one asked why, when three open seats and three people ran for Council, uncontested, of 33,000 possible votes, only 19,134 votes were cast. Averaging that out, only 6,378 of more than 11,000 voters bothered even voting for the three uncontested positions.
Teaching is not an easy job, but the legal school year is 180 days. May I suggest that the school year be expanded to 11 months instead of nine, with the same salaries. That would permit 30-day vacations, more than most workers get.
If there are 1,700 staff members (teachers) and almost 12,000 students, excluding supervisors, that is an average of one staff for 7 (rounded from 7.06) students. Does that mean that class sizes are seven students? If staff includes other than teachers, and there are 1,000 teachers, that is a ratio of 12 students per teacher. Still awful low.
If there are 600 teachers, that looks like about 20 students per teacher. How many teachers and supervisors are there?
Is it possible to have too many teachers or/and supervisors or not enough teachers who are teaching but doing other duties?
Give us the numbers.
Darus Greathouse
