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ShareProposed C-A budget cuts met with anger
By Melanie Lekocevic
COXSACKIE — Students, teachers and parents lined up one after the other to protest proposed cuts in the 2009-2010 budget for the Coxsackie-Athens Central School District last night.
The district's Board of Education was met by a standing-room only crowd at their monthly meeting at Coxsackie-Athens Middle School. Community members voiced their opposition to proposed cuts that include programming and staff reductions like the elimination of the French program, reducing the chorus teacher to a part-time position and eliminating the library media specialist at the elementary school level.
“The library is such an important part of the curriculum, and it is in the best interest of the students to have a professional librarian in the schools,” urged librarian Carolyn Brook. “It would not be for the good of the students to eliminate that position.”
Nearly a dozen students and several teachers spoke on behalf of the French program, which would be eliminated under the proposed budget. That would leave those students with only one option — Spanish — to meet their foreign language requirement.
“There is a total of 81 students in the middle school who would be affected by this, and that doesn't include the high school French students who wouldn't be able to move forward,” said high school teacher Amy Decker. “We understand the proposal to eliminate the French program is for fiscal purposes, but we believe there is a way to avoid cutting out this program in a district that seeks to become a flagship district.”
Opponents to the budget cuts also pointed out that neighboring school district Greenville is able to maintain three foreign language classes — Spanish, Japanese and Latin — so Coxsackie-Athens should be able to keep just two. And, they said, the number of students interested in studying French is growing.
“We know the number of French students in the high school is low, but it is strong in the middle school and growing,” French teacher John Myrick said. “These children should be given a choice.”
Some of the most impassioned comments came from the students themselves. “We took French because everyone else wasn't. They were taking Spanish because they heard it was easier, but we decided we were going to do what we wanted to and we wanted to challenge ourselves,” said student Marcus Frisbee. “It is unfair to give kids a choice and then take it away just because others don't make the same choice. It's not fair.”
Also proposed is reducing the choral director to a part-time position. Students and teachers pointed out that the chorus program probably has smaller numbers of students because it is offered during ninth period only, late in the day when most other students have already been dismissed. Should the program be offered during “regular” school hours, they say it would get a lot more interest.
“Music is crucial to our public schools, and I never thought I would live to see it cut in any way in our state, which greatly saddens me,” said music teacher Marilyn LaFargue. “Our students are clearly thriving off the choral program here.”
Youngsters also spoke of the impact music has had on their lives, and the need to maintain a strong music and choral program.
“Music helped define who I am, and it helped open doors I might otherwise not have gone through,” said high school senior Dan Baxter, who said music helped him get accepted to the college of his choice.
One of the fifth grade sections in the middle school is also slated for the chopping block. Fifth grade teacher Kirsten Fori and a contingent of her colleagues attended the meeting to urge the board to maintain fifth grade as it is right now. “Eliminating teachers is not the only answer to this economic crisis,” Fori said. “The smaller the class, the more we can give each individual fifth grader.”
The Board of Education is not expected to vote on the budget until April, and Board President Joseph “Seph” Garland III assured the community that the budget is still a work in progress, but that difficult choices may have to be made.
“These are proposals. They are not cast in stone,” Garland said. “We are considering all our options because we can't go back to the taxpayers with a 13 per cent tax levy increase. It's a very difficult position, and we do understand that we will be affecting lives with this decision.”
The district's Board of Education was met by a standing-room only crowd at their monthly meeting at Coxsackie-Athens Middle School. Community members voiced their opposition to proposed cuts that include programming and staff reductions like the elimination of the French program, reducing the chorus teacher to a part-time position and eliminating the library media specialist at the elementary school level.
“The library is such an important part of the curriculum, and it is in the best interest of the students to have a professional librarian in the schools,” urged librarian Carolyn Brook. “It would not be for the good of the students to eliminate that position.”
Nearly a dozen students and several teachers spoke on behalf of the French program, which would be eliminated under the proposed budget. That would leave those students with only one option — Spanish — to meet their foreign language requirement.
“There is a total of 81 students in the middle school who would be affected by this, and that doesn't include the high school French students who wouldn't be able to move forward,” said high school teacher Amy Decker. “We understand the proposal to eliminate the French program is for fiscal purposes, but we believe there is a way to avoid cutting out this program in a district that seeks to become a flagship district.”
Opponents to the budget cuts also pointed out that neighboring school district Greenville is able to maintain three foreign language classes — Spanish, Japanese and Latin — so Coxsackie-Athens should be able to keep just two. And, they said, the number of students interested in studying French is growing.
“We know the number of French students in the high school is low, but it is strong in the middle school and growing,” French teacher John Myrick said. “These children should be given a choice.”
Some of the most impassioned comments came from the students themselves. “We took French because everyone else wasn't. They were taking Spanish because they heard it was easier, but we decided we were going to do what we wanted to and we wanted to challenge ourselves,” said student Marcus Frisbee. “It is unfair to give kids a choice and then take it away just because others don't make the same choice. It's not fair.”
Also proposed is reducing the choral director to a part-time position. Students and teachers pointed out that the chorus program probably has smaller numbers of students because it is offered during ninth period only, late in the day when most other students have already been dismissed. Should the program be offered during “regular” school hours, they say it would get a lot more interest.
“Music is crucial to our public schools, and I never thought I would live to see it cut in any way in our state, which greatly saddens me,” said music teacher Marilyn LaFargue. “Our students are clearly thriving off the choral program here.”
Youngsters also spoke of the impact music has had on their lives, and the need to maintain a strong music and choral program.
“Music helped define who I am, and it helped open doors I might otherwise not have gone through,” said high school senior Dan Baxter, who said music helped him get accepted to the college of his choice.
One of the fifth grade sections in the middle school is also slated for the chopping block. Fifth grade teacher Kirsten Fori and a contingent of her colleagues attended the meeting to urge the board to maintain fifth grade as it is right now. “Eliminating teachers is not the only answer to this economic crisis,” Fori said. “The smaller the class, the more we can give each individual fifth grader.”
The Board of Education is not expected to vote on the budget until April, and Board President Joseph “Seph” Garland III assured the community that the budget is still a work in progress, but that difficult choices may have to be made.
“These are proposals. They are not cast in stone,” Garland said. “We are considering all our options because we can't go back to the taxpayers with a 13 per cent tax levy increase. It's a very difficult position, and we do understand that we will be affecting lives with this decision.”
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jimaura wrote on Oct 29, 2009 2:19 AM: