Schools...

...so we keep hearing about the budget cuts in the school system. $17 million plus is a lot of money which means lots of things will have to change. I, personally, don't want to see teachers lose their jobs and larger classrooms aren't the answer either. No one wins there. Today I read an article in the Chronicle Herald (http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/1226795.html) regarding a school in Riverport who has 8 STUDENTS!!! 8! I can hardly believe it...8 kids. Basically there's 6 families that have kids in that school. Apparently there's a new school being built in Lunenburg so some of the small schools will be closed and moving into the new school when it's all built. This school has had declining enrollment and I guess this year many kids moved to another school leaving 8 kids. Now there's talk of closing the school before the new one is built....ya think? Why on earth didn't they do it in September? This, to me, is a huge waste of money. Think about the power, heat, food, staff....just for 8 kids...unless there's something I'm missing here I think the decision to close the school should have been made by the school board months ago. It definitely shouldn't be up to the parents. Who wouldn't want their child to be in a class where the teacher can spend all of their time with a couple kids? It's ridiculous.

I know that being a teacher has it's perks and drawbacks - like any job. I don't understand all the inservices. Why can't there be a few in the summertime when teachers are off. I'm not saying the entire summer cause yes, i'd want a break too, but even one or two. Also, why not make the inservices in the schools so that no mileage needs to be paid out along with hotel and meal costs? That would save money. Everyone wants a free hotel room, but if it saves a teacher wouldn't it make more sense to try to cut those back as much as possible?

Also, I know people need to be involved with the Union. Why all the weekday meetings? That means a substitute needs to come in to replace that teacher and then the hotel/meals/mileage thing happens again. That's a lot of money. WHy would the union want the teachers to leave the classroom? Saturday is a lovely day for a meeting. That would atleast cut the substitute fee.

I don't know. A lot of this stuff I know nothing about so please don't take offence if you're a teacher. My father was a teacher and I think they are SUPER, UBBER important, that's why I think there has to be other ways to save money rather than cutting teaching positions.

A start would be closing a school with 8 kids...geesh!

"...school's out for summer" - Alice Cooper