Letter to Board of Education and Superintendent:
Dear Fellow Davis Joint Unified Stakeholders,
Thank you for your care, time, energy, and stamina, taking leadership roles in these difficult times.
By now, you certainly have heard from various sources about drawbacks to the closure of Emerson. Perhaps you’ve logged more persuasive essay reading than I have! Programs on the chopping block are all valuable and you are juggling the needs of all the students in the District. I’m not going to reiterate Tim Fahlen’s letter or the PTA’s letter to you. I simply felt duty bound to make a reminder.
Although severe cuts will cost us talented, dedicated, energetic, visionary young teachers – and I join you in mourning this – two of the cuts will most certainly have permanent effects and so I ask you to think especially hard about those cuts. Before we commit to permanent cuts, let’s make sure that the budget is that dire.
One of these cuts is Emerson. Once this decision is made, undoing the decision would be costly and difficult. From the District Offices scenarios, it looks like a secondary school reorganization is being suggested. This is a large task to accomplish well in a short amount of time. The other permanent decision is to forgo the State money that is offered for ninth grade reduction. I understand that once we pass these funds up, we cannot get them back (my information comes from what I feel is a reliable source, but I’m not conversant personally with this funding source law). Although I might not argue that in budget crunch times a 20 to 1 ratio for ninth grade students in these core subjects is a necessity, it is certainly a wonderful program that offers advantages to students. We get three teachers for the price of one with this program (since the State funds 2/3 of reduction), so that seems to maximize our money.
My nightmare (and probably yours too) is that five years down the road we will be saying: “Why on earth did we do that?”
Best wishes for the wisdom and stamina to do this job – and I also hope that you all have some joy, peace, and even frivolity in your life during this challenging Spring.
Sincerely,
Kathy Koblik
English Teacher
Emerson Junior High School
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