As usual, at this point in the yearly budget cycle, the AISD Board
of Trustees
listened to over an hour of citizens’ communications at their regular
board
meeting Monday night. One of the proposed cuts for 1995-96 – reducing
librarians’ hours to part time at schools that have fewer than 450
students –
brought several people to the podium. Laura Roeder, a fifth grader at
Barton
Hills Elementary School, delivered a speech that would have made a
preacher
proud. She explained that Mrs. Buss, Barton Hills’ librarian,
“introduces
children to the world of books,” and brilliantly articulated the many
reasons
why proper maintenance of the library is important – and why Mrs. Buss
must be
kept on full time at the school. “Take it from me, you won’t regret
it,” Miss
Roeder concluded confidently before retreating to her seat.
A young man some eight years her senior, Anderson High School student
Bret
Kadison, spoke in support of an agenda item – a proposal to exempt any
student
who takes either the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate
exams
from the school’s final exams. (This is so AP or IB students won’t have
to
prepare for 7 to 12 exams within a 10-day period). “The fact is, this
has no
fiscal note, it’s free, it’s logical,” Kadison cogently argued. The
board
unanimously approved the waiver (trustee Diana Casteneda was absent
from the
meeting).
Other board action included approving applications for the American
Institute
of Learning (AIL) and Middle Earth’s “78702 RAYS” to be designated as
“alternative campuses” measured by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). At
AIL and
RAYS, students can earn either a GED or a high school diploma –
although
trustees have consistently emphasized that they want AISD dropouts in
those
programs to get a diploma rather than a GED. It is very important to
note that
the board was not approving the continuation of those programs,
only the
application for state-designated “alternative campus” status. But
trustees Ted
Whatley and Loretta Edelen voted against the proposal anyway; Whatley
has long
been skeptical about the viability of the GED, and Edelen said that she
wasn’t
sure that either program’s services were adequate. Melissa Knippa
pointed out
that Superintendent Dr. Jim Fox will be the one who ultimately decides
whether
AISD will continue to contract with AIL and RAYS for dropout recovery.
Fox said
his decision will be based on how efficient the programs have been –
how many
dropouts have been taken in, how many students receive diplomas or
certificates, and what happens to them afterward. “And right now, I
have to be
candid – it can go either way,” he said.
Trustees also approved a plan for extending honors credit in music,
a new
calendar for schools on a year-round schedule, and an application to
TEA for
Goals 2000 grant money for those year-round schools. Considering that
Christian
evangelical conservatives have regarded Goals 2000 as a stinking
Clinton
administration plot to colonize our children’s subconscious minds, it
was
rather amazing that no one showed up at AISD to screech about it.
Reports about
how unfairly the teacher surplus program is being carried out on some
AISD
campuses keep trickling in every day now. Lana Bongiolatti, president
of the
Austin Association of Teachers, told the board that in some cases,
whether to
keep a teacher on staff or put her on the surplus list was being
decided by a
coin toss. Other principals, she said, “are acting like Attila the
Hun.”
Teachers with years of experience are suddenly finding themselves cut
loose
from a campus. Call my voice mail at 454-5766, ext. 205, to tell me
more.
Last item: Teachers at Bowie and Travis High Schools have gone to
no small
trouble and expense to themselves to establish home pages on the World
Wide Web
for their schools. Addresses? Glad you asked.
Bowie High School: http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~bowie
Travis High School: http://www.ph.utexas.edu/~travis
This article appears in April 28 • 1995 and April 28 • 1995 (Cover).