School superintendent tells community, ‘Hard choices will be made’

By Carrie A. Mizell

Gilchrist County School District officials are encouraging all parents and guardians of the 2,600 students attending Trenton and Bell schools to contact state and federal lawmakers to say enough is enough. As Superintendent Don Thomas pointed out, the government cannot provide school districts with revenue it does not have, but elected officials can lessen requirements strangling public school systems throughout the state.
In two separate public forums held last week in Bell and Trenton, the superintendent expressed to the community the many challenges facing the school system. Thomas also provided citizens with the chance to offer suggestions to help guide school officials as they brace for an uncertain future.
“It is becoming increasingly difficult to meet the standards set forth by the state and federal government,” Thomas explained. “In the old days you just sent your kids to school, the teacher taught them, they learned what they needed to know, and graduated from high school...it’s a lot more complicated than that now.”
Thomas presented a number of statistics during the public forum, including reports that show the school district’s operating funds being reduced significantly over the last four years. In anticipation of the loss of federal stimulus funds this year, school officials worked to build up the reserve during the 2010-11 school year to just over $2.6 million. But even after cutting 15 positions since last school year and cutting other parts of the budget, the superintendent said the reserve will continue to dwindle as it covers operating expenses. During the 2011-12 school year, officials project the reserve to fall to $854,415.
“As we anticipate another reduction in revenue next year, we know we cannot continue to use the reserve to balance the budget,” Thomas said. “Cuts are going to have to be made and they aren’t going to be pretty. One month’s payroll is equal to $1.5 million.”
Also disturbing were statistics showing that 63.29 percent of students in Gilchrist County were on the free and reduced meal plan during the 2010-11 school year, which coincides with an increase in the unemployment rate countywide to just over 9 percent.
School district officials are projecting an increase in the number of students attending Trenton and Bell school during the 2011-12 school year, despite statistics showing that the number of students attending local schools has dropped each year since the financial crisis began in 2006-07.
As Thomas pointed out, the good news is that the school district has the longest record, at 10 years, of A and B schools in the state, having earned an A school district grade each year since 2003-04.
“I think the most important thing we can be proud of in Gilchrist County is our graduation rate,” Thomas said. “Gilchrist County tied for #1 with Broward County with a graduation rate of 94.7 percent in 2009.”
While other school districts in the area had graduation rates as low as 62.7 percent in 2010, Gilchrist County boasted a 92.1 percent graduation rate.
“At their [other local school districts’] graduation rate over the last few years, well over 200 of our kids would not have graduated from high school,” Thomas said.
Despite continued success, the Gilchrist County School District is now looking at a number of instructional challenges both at the state and federal levels. State accountability focuses on the A++ Plan, which was initiated by former Governor Jeb Bush, and school grades, while federal accountability mandates No Child Left Behind and Adequate Yearly Progress standards.
As Thomas pointed out, students are broken down into the following subgroups: White, Black, Asian, Hispanic, American Indian, Students with Disabilities, Economically Disadvantaged and English Language Learners. There must be at least 30 students in a category to be measured as a subgroup. Once measured, Thomas said it doesn’t matter if 95 percent of a school’s students are doing well, if just one subgroup does not make Adequate Yearly Progress then a school is penalized.
“The Adequate Yearly Progress target is steadily moving,” Thomas explained. “By 2013-14, 100 percent of students will have to make Adequate Yearly Progress. It’s more likely that republicans and democrats will be able to work together than us being able to meet that 100 percent requirement.”
District officials are also wrestling with a Class Size Amendment that they cannot afford to fund. For example, the class size maximum for students in fifth grade is 22 students. If teachers A, B and C each have a class size of 22 students, but teacher D has 23 students then district officials have to decide if it’s more feasible to hire a new fifth grade teacher, at a cost $55,000 to accommodate the one extra child and thereby meet the class size requirement, or pay a penalty of $4,352.84 for each student over class size.
The school district is also facing a decrease in career and technical education funding, or vocational education funding, which is rough in a small county where according to statistics, just 8.1 percent of the population has a bachelor’s degree.
Officials are not the only ones facing challenges as the school year begins; school district employees are also facing new regulations requiring 3 percent of their salary to be used to help pay for retirement, which according to Thomas translates to a 3 percent cut in all employee salaries. Also, under Senate Bill 736, professional service contracts have been eliminated, so employees will not be on annual contracts with student performance tied to a teacher’s salary and administrator’s evaluation.
“This is one area where we are further ahead than other school districts in the state,” Thomas explained. “Gilchrist County is one of three counties in the state that has been measuring student performance and relating it to a teacher’s salaries for several years now.”
Also new this school year will be the implementation of Common Core Standards which will require teachers at each grade level to teach students what they should know to meet standards, which will then be tested by FCAT and other standardized tests.
“The focus on rigorous instruction has to begin at the elementary level in order for students to be ready for what lies ahead in the curriculum,” Thomas said.
For example, under the Common Core Standards a kindergarten student will now be required to associate the long and short sounds with common spellings for the five major vowels, recognize and name end punctuation, solve addition and subtraction word problems, not to mention being able to analyze and compare two and three dimensional shapes.
Under Senate Bill 4, high school seniors will be facing tougher graduation requirements and students will now be required to pass end of course exams to earn credit in courses which are required for graduation. Students entering 9th grade in 2011-12 and thereafter also must take one online course as part of their 26 credits needed to graduate. Based on FCAT scores or scoring below a set score on the ACT, students will also now be required to take the PERT in the 11th grade to determine placement in a college readiness course during the 12th grade year.
According to Thomas, the number of tests given over the computer is growing rapidly, which requires the school district to have a certain amount of broadband width to allow for the increase in internet activity. At a per month fee of $2,900, the school district has increased from 18 megs to 25 megs in preparation for the start of the 2011-12 school year. “The government is just going to have to back off the things that cost extra money,” Thomas said. “I think computerized testing is great, but we can’t afford the band width we need.”
When it came time for public comment, Bell High School teacher Bill Martin pointed out that the elimination of PECO funding given to public schools in 2011-12 makes him wonder if the state is trying to do away with public education in favor of charter and virtual schools.
“They haven’t said it, but charter schools got $54 million in PECO funding this year,” Thomas said. “We have always used that money for facility repairs...”
Another longtime educator, John Yencho, asked if the school district has considered going to a four-day week. Thomas responded, saying he had some personal concerns with that suggestion. Primarily, what parents would do with their children on Fridays, and educationally, would it hurt students to have that long of a weekend break in between instruction. Thomas also pointed out that a four-day work week would mean a loss in salary for bus drivers and cafeteria workers.
“The savings on energy would not be that significant, but as it stands right now everything is on the table,” Thomas said.
Kathy Porter questioned the number of district personnel and asked why cuts had not been made at the district office as well. Thomas replied by saying that cuts have been made at the district office as well, primarily in the loss of a director of personnel position that was recently eliminated.
Consolidating schools was also suggested by a parent attending the public forum. Thomas explained that if Gilchrist County had just one county high school the district would lose funding and there is no way the school district could get the money to build one centrally located school. The superintendent also pointed out numerous advantages to having small schools, like Trenton and Bell.
“We would have to have the money and the community support to consolidate the schools and I just don’t think we have that right now,” Thomas said.
The importance of shopping locally was also brought up by School Board member Bob Clemons, who encouraged the public to spend money within the county, thereby building up the tax base.
“The most important thing any of us can do is saturate lawmakers with our voices; we’ve got to just say, enough is enough!” said Michelle Carter, school board member. “What they [lawmakers] are asking us to do is impossible.”
As Thomas said in his closing remarks, the Gilchrist County School District, along with school districts throughout the state, are facing a number of unprecedented challenges in the years ahead, but officials are working to make sure that the district can get through the hard times ahead.
“If any school district in the state can get through all that we face, I know it’s going to be our district. There is no way you can maintain the kind of success we have over the last 10 years without good people working together,” Thomas said. “I feel like we are surrounded by issues we can hardly deal with...the good news is we can attack in any direction we want to.”