Now that the 2009 legislative session has concluded, we have been able to begin evaluating the impact on both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 budgets. This memorandum describes what the financial impact of those decisions appears to be for the Granite School District.
Before I begin, I first want to express my gratitude for our legislators’ hard work in crafting budgets that are aimed at lessening the financial impact on the children of our state. Public education could have faced a 14-17 percent cut in revenue if one-time money had not been used to compensate for the economic downturn of state revenues. I also want to give credit to Governor Huntsman for his leadership in working with the state legislature. The governor allocated one-time federal funds of $298 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to soften the impact of the state revenue declines for FY 2009 and FY 2010.
Legislative Budget Reductions for the current 2008-2009 School Year (Senate Bill #4)
Due to declining revenues, the legislature was forced to reduce the state FY 2008-09 Minimum School Program budget. Granite’s share of this reduction is approximately $6.3 million. The law allowed these cuts to be taken from 2007-08 carryover funds from restricted categorical budget accounts. Unfortunately, we do not have this provision in the law for the new FY 2009-10 school budget.
Legislative Budget Reductions for the new 2009-10 School Year (House Bill #2)
By using one-time money as a backfill, and by shifting a greater portion of budget cuts to other state agencies, the legislature was able to reduce the full impact of declining state revenues to the FY 2009-10 Minimum School Program Budget. For 2009-10, the legislature made reductions of nearly $22 million for the Granite District budget. Some of these cuts were specifically identified by the legislature. These included the elimination of the Quality Teaching Block (which paid for 5 ½ days for teacher professional development, student achievement projects, instructional specialists, and mentors) and the Local Discretionary Block (which paid for school technology specialists) and a reduction of funding in the Student Success Block. The legislature also specified that an additional $7.5 million in budget cuts be determined by the local board of education. In addition to these cuts, there was no increase by the legislature in the value of the WPU. With a zero percent increase in the WPU we have no additional funding to meet the normal annual increases in such costs as health insurance and salary steps and lanes. As you can tell, this will be a very difficult budget year.
Given the magnitude of the budget reductions for the 2009-10 school year, it is essential that we have broad discussions and input from everyone. I have asked school principals and department heads to foster such discussions. I am interested in your thoughts and have established several avenues to receive your input. This new blog will be regularly updated with information specific to employees. You can email me here superintendentsblog@graniteschools.org or at sfronnenkamp@graniteschools.org. Recommendations to the board of education are also welcome.
Dr. Stephen F. Ronnenkamp
Ben Horsley says
Visitors, the site is now ready to publish comments.
Marion Smith says
I am aware that there is a movement to close Granite High School. As a resident of South Salt Lake, I feel that Granite High School is needed for the children of South Salt Lake. It is a community school and supported by the community and leaders of South Salt Lake. These children do well at Granite but were they to be sent to another high school would undoubtedly drop out. High School is not “one size fits all”. These children need to be with others of similar circumstances. Students at Cottonwood, for instance, do not understand these kids.
My feeling is that Granite Peaks should be closed. There is ineffectual teaching going on there and students are receiving a diploma for sub standard effort.
Ruby says
I would like to see a more than adequate number of Town Hall Meetings scheduled (at different times in order to address a variety of schedules) before cuts are made.
I hope that when/if administrators start looking for teachers to lay off, they will focus on keeping teachers who perform on a high level and expect students to do the same. (When I was in school, these are the teachers that the administration stood behind, now it seems as if administrators stand behind the teachers who make their jobs the easiest.)
I would also like to express my appreciation for Governor Huntsman and Utah Legislators for working together on the education budget (along with other elected representatives and activists). It could have been so much worse.
C. Peterson says
Suggestions for budget cuts:
On early-out days, when the students go home early, eliminate school lunch.
Eliminate junior high late buses and after school programs.
Give incentives to schools for reducing their budgets – for example, give a 50 percent rebate to schools for reducing paper usage, saving electricity as compared to current costs.
Solicit more business partnerships.
Have online classes for junior high and high school students who would benefit from home study.
Cut custodial “sweepers” and pay schools incentives whose teachers are willing to keep their own classrooms clean.
John Haglund says
I would like to see a decision matrix that shows not just the cost of the items under consideration, but the number of staff affected, and the number of students impacted as well.
Any cuts will obviously be difficult, but the decisions have to be made based not only on the dollars, but also on the impacts. Those programs with the smallest reach and largest dollar impact should be at the top of the list.
For example, I’ve heard that junior high sports programs and elementary music specialists are under consideration. The sports programs affect many hundreds of kids across the district, and the elementary music specialists affect thousands more. For some of these students, these programs may be the only reason they come to school every day. Why should many thousands of students district-wide lose essential programs while the district caters to one underpopulated high school?
It is obvious that public schools are the centerpieces of their communities. But in the present economic environment, we simply cannot afford to maintain high schools with a student population equivalent to an extremely small elementary school. This may sound insensitive, and I apologize in advance if it offends anyone, but the residents of SSL are holding the rest of the district hostage, at a substantial cost.
Give the kids a chance, Ms. Smith, both the kids from Granite and from Cottonwood. I suspect they would fit in with each other much better than you think.
A Granite District Elementary Staff says
Budget Cut Suggestions
STS as Media Person; STS’s can serve as librarians and computer specialists. Upper grades can check out their own books allowing the STS to take care of technology needs. Volunteers can assist lower grades with stories, teachers can help check out. Students can also help with shelving and filing. We can not afford to lose our technology specialists.
Reduce SEP’s; Reduces the number of days teachers are working after hours, balancing the work that is going to have to be done on our own time.
o Jr. High/High School only as needed, grades checked online
o Elementary School – Back-to-school night, then SEP’s as necessary
Training Adjustment; Programs such as SIOP, REACH, and Great beginnings need to be put at the college level or as online training, reducing the amount of money spent on people, subs, food, binders, etc.
Reduce Testing; We do not need YPP, Acuity and CRT’s. Acuity is monthly, YPP weekly, and CRT yearly – this is an exorbitant amount of testing. CRT’s could be given every other year, and Acuity (or other basic benchmark) monthly to assess progress. DIBELS is also invalid way of testing that consumes large of paper and time without creating reliable data. Other tests that can be eliminated are DWA and Iowa’s. Streamline testing – Eliminate duplication!
Reduce Summer Sweeper Time; Bulleting boards will not be taken down since we will no longer have the paid time necessary to prepare a classroom. Students clean desks and shelves at the end of the year, we don’t need to pay sweepers to do the same. Sweepers need to clean carpets, tile, sinks, blinds, and windows.
Reduce Paper; ALL paperwork, newsletters, etc. need to be sent via email.
Consolidate District Jobs; We do not need individual personnel for testing, Iinterconnections, Reach, SIOP, Great Beginnings, Prevention Dimensions, Science, Social Studies, and many other departments. Consolidate district jobs to create one person over all curriculum, other than that we only need payroll and benefits!
Cut district personnel 5 ½ days
District Office; 4 day/10 hours to reduce utilities. District air conditioning is also only ‘on’ when year round has theirs on. Teachers spend a significant part of their year in hot conditions, the same should apply to the district.
Secondary Sports & Extra Curriculur Groups; Reduce money allotted to these groups for travel and funding. Fundraisers should pay for expenses.
Kids should go to their ‘home schools’ – less expense in busing.
Cut special programs that require extra time, aides, and expenses.
Let students with extreme special needs be serviced in facilities that are already equipped and staffed to handle them.
For staff hirings, require a writing sample and/or math test first to assure an efficient use of money.
Refugee Education; If we are going to continue to accept refugees, we need to educate them. Multi-lingual softwar on computers to communicate, create notes, etc. We also need a full-time teacher to handle all of the paperwork, not someone who is trying to handle it in “spare” time. Perhaps we could do away with charter schools and create a Refugee Training school for the first year, that would give regular education a more ‘charter’ feel with less focus on these very challenging students.
First week of School; Students have short day schedules all week. Teachers plan and get lessons & classrooms ready from 1:30 – 4:00. Full day classes begin the Tuesday after Labor Day.
Postpone the purchases of new reading programs
Endorsement Programs; Discontinue subsidizing endorsement programs for ESL, GT.
Consolidate to a smaller district office building.
Larry Jacobsson says
No school closures, please! It’s a nightmare for parents, students and staff!!
Todd Rushton says
This budget needs to focus on cutting unused/under used resources and shortening the academic year. In no way should we eliminate staff during such economic times. Keep people working. It is the teacher making the difference, not the building.
Diana Parker says
If we are going to actually make the hard decisions, let’s make them. Close and consolidate schools. Do you leave all your children’s bedrooms intact for years and years because they feel sentimental about them? It is not wise to be too sentimental about our “neighborhood” schools. Close Granite High. Expand the SMART program and leave it in already existing buildings where we are already paying the bills to keep it open.
Elementary School Teacher says
Can we take a lesson from year round schools and add ten minutes to each school day, while reducing the number of days a school is open by about 10 days per year? Would that cut enough costs (operation of buildings, busing, lunch program, hourly staff) across the board to make a significant impact? This wouldn’t reduce the number of teacher contract days, but would impact some other employees.
Dave McCallister MM says
As a part of the the B-5 article on impending budgeting decisions facing Granite School District, one suggestion that was put forth was the elimination of certain extracurricular activities. One of the suggested programs was the Elementary Music Program. The use of the term “extracurricular” in describing the Granite Elementary Music program is misleading and is, in fact, inaccurate. Dictionaries define extracurricular as “not falling within the scope of curriculum;” accordingly, Elementary Music is, curricular, not extracurricular as mentioned in the article. The Utah CORE curriculum for Music can be found at the USOE web-site; and National standards exist as well. Standard 2 of both the fifth and sixth grade Utah Music Cores specify instrumental music instruction. While there are those (statewide) who choose disregard this curriculum, that does not mean it doesn’t exist. Those who are familiar with the history of education should recognize that Music is one the original subjects of the Greek educational model, upon which our modern educational system is based. Additionally, when instruction in music is properly given and received, literacy and standardized test scores both increase; that is to say, students who study music tend to be stronger performers in other academic areas as well. Research shows this increase in performance to be tied directly to the development of sensory motor and mental skills reinforced though the practice of instrumental music. Granite District needs to be a leader by continuing to provide this curricular program to its students, rather being followers in overlooking this crucial aspect of the learning process.
Concerned Parent says
We need to be willing to benefit as many of our students as possible…not a select few…CLOSE GRANITE HIGH!! Those students needs can be met elsewhere and the money saved will benefit FAR MORE than 300 !! Please do the right thing.
Nina says
There have been some excellent suggestions posted thus far.
My daughters are in year-round school. One thing that has never made sense to me is a short day every Friday.
Currently, they attend school 7 hours a day Monday through Thursday and 5 hours a day on Friday. We should close the schools on Friday and have them attend 8 hours and 15 minutes on Monday through Thursday. That wouldn’t give them a lot of time for homework, but they could make that up on Friday when they’re home.
Now I understand this may cause a problem for families that have no one to watch their kids, but that’s a problem we deal with anyway because the kids go off track three or four times a year.
Another solution would be to shave a week off of each off-track period; then, the school could close a month earlier.
Ken says
Budget ideas:
Four ways that GSD could reduce its overall outlay of money are as follows:
First the planned closure of Granite High School needs to be finalized. It is time the students to go to the school that falls in to their home boundaries. The eastside is already seeing shortages and the fact that four schools, Olympus, Skyline, Cottonwood and Granite are all within a very small geographical area needs to be resolved. The fact is that a school the size of Granite cost a lot to run. The number of students does not meet the cost. Close Granite.
Second school staffs that are counting for FTE at the schools need to be teaching classes. The school counselors and other staff that are being counted for the schools FTE need to be teaching. This would help with the ever increasing classroom size. These staff could teach out of one classroom and could cover five to six class periods in a given school. This would pull them out of their office and let them see what a real classroom is like with thirty-five to fourty students feels like.
Third I feel that the district needs to look at the way the district maintenance department is being run. We have a large number to employees that seem to be paid to sit around in their truck in school parking lots. When it takes three to four visits for one work order to get approved and another three to four visits to get a work order completed it seems that we could save by sub contracting most of the district jobs. Half the time the maintenance department end-up subcontracting the work anyway. The cost benefit is you are not paying a person to drive around in a district truck, and do the job of the in house custodial staff.
Last I believe that the district needs to look up rather than down. It seems that whenever budget cuts are made they are cutting teacher programs and student benefits. We need to call for a look at the people that are not directly related to the job at hand that is to educate the students that live within our district boundaries. The administration and staff that are in the district office and GTI need to be affected. The teacher’s salary has been cut due to loss of contract days already. I would suggest that all district employees that currently make more than $100,000 a year take a 1% cut in salary.
If you want to know who is making what you can look at http://www.utahsright.com/ all district employees current salaries can be look at on this site.
Thank you for considering ideas before increasing class sizes yet again.
Michelle Misco says
There have been some very good suggestions posted here. I think it is very important to impact the students as little as possible. The idea being discussed at the district of cutting elementary music would have a broad impact on thousands of students in Granite District. Music should be provided to all students in all grades, not only to secondary schools. Music has been proven to create better learners, as well as more creative and cooperative children and adults. It is part of the state and federal core curriculum, but is treated as “extra-curricular” which is not the case.
Look to the Salt lake City School district who provides music to all 4-6 graders, and in some cases K-3. In most states, music is taught in grades K-12. It is an easy target in hard financial times, but should be treated as the essential subject it is.
The arts in general are lacking in elementary schools, where children need these classes the most. Young minds learn best through music, movement and life connections. Ignoring this research would be much to the detriment of our children.
Some say elementary music is expensive, but when you consider how many children are impacted, it is a small cost per child for such an essential part of education. Not having music would be more costly to our childrens education and humanity.
I think there are some good ideas about closing Granite High which only impacts 300 students, as well as consolidating some administrative positions.
If Granite could make smaller cuts from each department, instead of looking to eliminate or make deep cuts to one or two departments, the children may not feel the impact quite so much. It is about the children, after all.
Jason says
I hate to point out an obvious partial solution to some of your financial issues. why not get rid of Granite PD? The Sheriff’s Office and West Valley City already employees deputies and officers to work inside the high schools and now also added some to the junior highs as well. So you ask what about the elementary’s? Well the Sheriff’s Office, West Valley City or what ever jursidiction the school lies in will send officers to that school as needed. These agencies also have officers in designated positions such as Community Oriented Policing or DARE that would be willing to go to any of these schools and teach as well. Does Granite PD do this? I dont think so.
I have a son who attends a Granite School District school and I live in the area and pay taxes for Granite School District. I find it ridiculous that I get double taxed to pay for public services and again for Granite School District to have a Police force.
Granite School District pays 2 million+ a year for the Granite PD and they are thinking of cutting teachers? this is a insult to teachers. The already existing agencies in the schools area are always the first to respond in a critical situation and they have the man power to train for such incidents (such as a “active shooter”).
I’m not saying laying off police is the answer. But if Granite School District did get rid of a $2 million+ police agency, they could put some of that money to hire deputy’s from Sheriff Winder for about $120,000 per Deputy I think. Then more police could be on the street as well as the schools and theschool district would not have to cut some much needed teaching jobs.
Ask your local police officer if Granite PD is needed, I have.
John T. Draper says
Again, there is a movement to close Granite High School. As a teacher at Granite, I offer another solution. The Granite High small learning community is a valuable resource that is underused. The district should do more to promote Granite as a small learning center, taking some pressure off of other schools. We could easily double our student numbers at Granite, and still maintain our small school environment.
Closing Granite amounts to a long-term solution to a hopefully short-term problem. It would eliminate a valuable educational option that may be essential to the success of many students.
Faculty and staff at Granite have seen first hand that some students learn better in a smaller school, and there is ample research that also shows this. Many of the students here have come because they had a hard time doing well at larger schools, and some come because it is located in their neighborhood. Studies also show that students tend to do better in neighborhood schools.
As far as saving money goes, I have not heard anyone ask the question of what it would cost to close Granite. In the current real estate market, it is unlikely that the property could be sold a an advantageous price, and the district would either have to pay have the buildings razed, which would probably cost much more than it would save, or simply leave it vacant.
By leaving it vacant, the large campus with it’s many hiding places, would either require constant vigilance by South Salt Lake Police, or District Police, or it would most likely become a venue for loitering, drug use, prostitution, truancy and other crimes. This, long-term, would be much more costly than what the district would save by closing Granite.
Thus, Granite’s closure would probably–at best–amount to a zero-sum game.
By leaving Granite open, the school will provide South Salt Lake with a much needed community anchor, allow school choice options for students who don’t thrive in competitive, large-school environments, and leave a high school in the central valley area. To facilitate access to Granite for students who live further out, but desire a small learning community option, buses could be shared with Granite Peaks. Please consider all other options before closing neighborhood schools.
Laura says
Eliminate YPP testing. It is not necessary to test every concept every single week. We could use Acuity for math benchmarks and Star Testing for reading benchmarks.
Close Granite High School. We should not be running such a large building for only 300 students.
Reduce paperwork. Eliminate Dibbles Testing, which consumes a large amount of paperwork. This is an invalid test… teachers know which students are not fluent anyway, so the test is unecessary. Send newsletters and other bulletins via email.
Reduce school ground maintenence. Mow lawns every week and a half or every two weeks instead of every single week.
Consolidate the Granite School District Office building into a smaller building. Many rooms are not even being used and there is wasted money in electricity, air conditioning, and maintenence.
School counselors and specialists should spend the majority of their day teaching in the classroom. This would lower class sizes.
For class field trips, students should donate money to pay for buses and expenses rather than having the schools pick up the costs.
All students should attend their home schools to save money on busing. No special permits shoud be allowed unless parents are willing to drive the students. Parents should also drive the students to charter schools.
Nicole McDermott says
I agree that the way Granite High is being utilized right now is not economically sound but there are many things about this that just sit wrong with me. I am not sure why everyone is pitted against Granite. We are busing a huge number of students, some more than 6 miles away, to a school that has a dropping enrollment as well. It makes much more sense to me to close Cottonwood. The students who live in the Taylorsville area can then go to Taylorsville. And now that they are going to rebuild Granger who wouldn’t want to go there. Take the kids back to Granite to where the teachers and students understand their needs and help them to flourish. This should be about what is best for these students. Not why we should keep another school open because we have wealthy patrons who insist that it can’t be closed because it is an “award winning” school. Aren’t they all? Granite has done amazing things with the kids in helping them succeed. I would be interested to know how those kids have flourished instead at Cottonwood or how many of them just dropped out. We just spent 1 million dollars on buying the land next to Granger High so that we could build a new school. Why didn’t we look into aquireing land somewhere in the middle and combine Granite and Granger? Their populations are similar and this could have served both communities in a much better way than just a plain old closure. Why are we keeping Granger open when most of the students special permit out to Hunter or Taylorsville? All of the questions that are not being addressed because people are so hell bent on closing Granite.
There are other wasteful things that we can reduce:
If we eliminate lunch on early out days then the kids will be home in time for lunch. Many do not eat it on that day anyway because who wants to eat lunch at 10:00?
Stop drowning the lawns at the schools and watering every day and in the middle of the day. It should be done in the morning only to make it more effective. Stop watering the pavement.
Instead of using portables and building more schools, create dual boundaries for schools and provide buses for the kids who go to a different school. This way the state pays for the buses instead of the district.
Air conditioning should not be turned on until the traditional schools are out of session in either the district offices or any other school. The rest of us have to sit in the heat during the fall and spring. Everyone else should too. Even if you turned the AC up 2 degrees I think you wouldn’t notice the difference in most of the frigged rooms and could reduce energy consumption during the summer months.
Many of the high school sports teams earn their own money or make the money to run the team at their games. Why are we not doing this for junior high as well?
While some say it is more cost efficient to have your own staff for things such as electrical, painting, etc. I find that they are very inefficient sometimes. It could be that they are already under staffed. But a CD player I sent in for repair came back over a year later. If we contracted out, we could eliminate the waste as well as the time spent waiting for some of these jobs to get done.
Andie B. says
The money we spend on testing is a joke. We could be funding more teachers for smaller class sizes. I am sick of the testing and the kids are sick of the testing. We have YPP ( L.A., Math,Reading) once a week. Then we have Dibels three times a year. Plus Acuity (math bench mark) four times a year. Let’s not forget the CRT’s at the end of the year. I can’t even use my computer time for things like power point, typing, inspiration, general research, and improving their technology skills. I would be willing to bet not all this testing is even used correctly it is just one more hoop we have to jump through.
Plus another gripe I have is that the district board takes five and a half days from teachers and then suggests that administrators and staff only take three????? As a teacher, I think it should be five and a half for them as well.
Michael Kaly says
Recommendations
• This is a time to face the challenges with innovative solutions that promote effective educational practices (community schooling, smaller schools, lower class size, and effective professional development).
• Consider an accurate assessment of student success district-wide before making cuts (including an accurate measure of high school completion for all ethnic groups)
• Consider accurate analysis of the district’s projected student population / accurate demographic study
• An accurate assessment of district resources is needed (both human resources and facilities)
One innovative example of this would be an assessment of 720 employees (administrators / staff in special programs) who are eligible to teach. The assessment could realistically yield over 600 employees who could be a part of a new program where these educators would have the opportunity teach one class. I believe that this would greatly benefit both the students and the educators. This would not only be an effective educational practice it could net the district up to 100 FTE = approx. 4 million dollars. Such programs were in place at the schools I’ve taught at abroad (Mexico, Chile, and the Czech Republic) and I’ve personally witnessed their success.
• Assessment of community resources
• More community input in needed (all shareholders in the district should have this opportunity) I haven’t seen much parent / student input in regard to the budget challenges
• House Granite Peaks and Granite High together
• Create / support quality teachers and the teaching profession
• The 5.5 day loss of professional time = a 2.9 % decrease in pay for teachers this decrease should be for all employees district-wide
Dianne Krehbiel says
First, thanks to everyone who has been working on creative ways to deal with a painful situation. We all understand that these are extraordinary budget times, and we each need to do our part. Personally, I hope that we are able to preserve people and programs. Some of us remember the cuts in the early 80s. At the elementary level we used to have PE specialists, general music specialists, counselors, certified librarians, special needs aides and more school nurses. These programs never returned to our schools even when economic times improved. If we cut the instrumental music program at this point, I doubt that it would ever come back and what would happen to all of those teachers or to our school music programs? Personally, I would prefer that we reduce the student attendance days and have everyone take the same furlough. We would not only save the cost of salaries, but the cost of operating the schools those days. We would lose 3.5 teacher preparation days and another 3 student attendance days. Shortening everyone’s contracts by 6.5 days represents about a 3.5% pay lose for teachers and less than that for employees on contracts greater than 188.5 days. For most employees this reduction coupled with the increase in insurance will be difficult. The public needs to understand that education will not be business as usual this next year. Shortening the school year is felt by everyone and is easily put back in place when there is a change in our economic situation. People and program cuts are sometimes invisible and as we know, often do not return.
Jim Smith says
Suggestions for reducing costs:
– reduce bussing to only that required by law.
– don’t place relocatables at Wasatch Jr. High
– integrate Wasatch Peaks into Granite High School and sell the Granite Peaks property
– cut jr. high cheer leaders and competitive athletics.
– consider reducing high school competitive athletics.
– eliminate elementary school instrumental music (but jr high and high school programs will need to be bolstered to include instruction for beginners).
Definitely don’t close Granite High School! It is the heart of the South Salt Lake community. Many of the students in this are are not being well served by Cottonwood High School.
James D. Smith
Randy J. says
My suggestion will not be popular, but it needs to be looked at. Before anything is done to cut the budget at the student level, we need to look at cutting administration or at least making it more efficient. Can one person do the job of two? Can administrators be required to teach a class/week or serve some other way in the school? If we look at the growth of school budgets over the last twenty years, we will see a disproportianate amount of growth at the offices of the district. Make the cuts last that effect the students most. The schools are there for the students, not the administration.
Ashley Fleming says
Dear Mr. Superintendant,
I am a student at Beehive Elementary and am currently in the 6th grade. I am very angry that the district is considering the cancellation of band and orcestra. I am a musician myself, and have been playing for seven years. This change would effect my, my friends, fellow students, and all of our siblings to come.
This change will efect me because I’ll no longer have kids my own age to play music with. In Junior High, it will hurt higher level bands, and will maybe even end those bands. Since I take private lessons, this wont effect me to much, but think of all the many, many other students and their families, who just can’t afford private lessons, especially with this economy. This could change and reduce the musicians, and stop many from finding their true musical potential.
I was in a big recital lately, and in the program it have biographies on all the performers. Almost all of the biographies mentioned that they started playing in a band between 4th and 7th grade. This recital was for the best of the best in a competiton. If they had not had that band available to them, they would not be able to win competions and scholarships. Cancelling band and orcestra may even end symphonies.
My little brother is so excited to learn to play the saxaphone in band next school year. With band cancelled, he would probably never get the chance to try out intruments, since we just can’t afford more private lessons.
I plead with you, cancelling band and orcestra will really ruin the musical world. We need band and orcestra.
Sincerly,
Ashley Fleming, a troubled music student.
Brenda Sweeney says
My family has had the priviledge of being part of the Granite School District music program for the past 3 years. Words cannot express how much this program has meant to my kids. My daughter has been playing the flute since 3rd grade and had been anxiously awaiting this year, 5th grade so she could be part of Eastwood’s music program.
It’s amazing to see the transformation in these kids from learning their first note, to “making” the junior high Jazz Band. The feeling of being part of a group is as true in music as it is in sports. The accomplishment is equally important to these young people. I truly believe that music education is as important as any other core class. My children have a fabulous work ethic, and I believe part of this is because of the hard work and dedication their music classes require. They are also very good students, and again, I believe this is due in large part to having music part of their school day.
My 9th grade son did not start playing an instrument until 7th grade. The biggest reason for this was the music program in the private school he attended was very sporadic at best. My son is lucky that his parents have the resources to pay for private lessons, however there are many families who simply cannot afford it. Obviously, with the economy in the shape it’s in right now, my guess would be that households would cut back on private lessons of any kind before they would cut back on food and other necessities. The only way that many kids will be able to have music education is through our school system.
I also had the priviledge of attending the junior high Jazz Festival this past week. Six junior high’s from Granite SD were a part of this festival. I have to say, this was the highlight of my week! It’s amazing to me how talented our children are, and the teachers as well as the parents are all to be commended. Without such devotion and hard work, this would never have happened.
I realize that times are tough eveywhere, and I truly wish I had the answers and the resources to fix everything. I hope the school board is listening to parents, teachers and also students. Afterall, the students are the ones that will feel the effects of this decision most.
Marie says
Suggestions:
Keep the music program. Very important!
Combine schools with 300 to 400 student body. Schools need to have a student body of at least 600+ to fully fill a building. Keeping jobs and teachers for our children. This is very emotional when talking about closing schools, but I agree with the person who said we don’t keep our children’s rooms the same forever! Changes are good if done with the right attitude.
Close Success Charter School. We fund them. Why? They are a charter school within Granite School District. We pay their salaries and they are very well compensated. Let some else pay for it. Or better yet. CLOSE IT! We would save $300,000 plus in doing so.
Cut back salaries of employees making over $100,000 per year. We are a public school system. No one should be making over $100,000 per year. This is money that could be used to save programs, keep teachers, etc. Many forget it’s about the education of our children, not the funding of big salaries! That’s for the private sector. Not one teacher in the classroom makes over $100,000 per year and they are the ones doing all the hard work in teaching our children to become successful human beings. Everyone else is nothing but support for the teachers. So why is it that the others make over $100,000 per year? Our own superintendent makes over $200,000 per year. Unbelievable!
There are approximately 40 plus people in the district who make over $100,000 per year. If those people took just a 10% cut in pay. It would be over $500,000 in savings. This easily could keep the music program in place and it would still give Ronnekamp over $190,000 to live on. If all these people can’t figure out how to live with a 10% cut in pay, then they shouldn’t be the ones making the decision on budgets for the school district. If they need advise ask a teacher on how they live on $30,000 per year. Our teachers are the ones that are expected always to take the cut in pay.
Superintendent’s office could easily be cut back to three secretaries. They currently have six. Each superintendent and asst. superintendent have their own secretary. Why?? That would be a savings of at least $150,000 plus. School secretaries that are the nurse, receptionist, payroll clerk, one who wipes tears and comforts, a parent consultant, peacemaker, attendance tracker, and whatever else needs to be done makes between $30,000 – $40,000 per year. When the superintendent’s secretaries make over $50,000 per year. Again unbelievable! Their work load can’t even be compared to what a school secretary does on a daily basis. A school secretary would run laps around a superintendent’s secretary in getting things done
When schools are in session, the district office is open. When schools are out, the district office should be closed and should be closed the first two weeks in July with no pay. Summer hours should be 8:00AM to 4:00PM.
On teacher prep days district office should close at 4:00PM.
We all need to remember the students that attend Granite School District are our top priority. We who are employed by Granite School District have a job because of the students that attend. Without them we would be on the unemployment line.
We need to do what’s best for them first!!!
Tracy Hansen says
First, I recommend that all employees take the same percentage of salary reduction that teachers will be taking.
Second, for the 5 1/2 days that teachers are losing, close the entire district top to bottom.
Third, eliminate the costly, hoop jumping tests.
Fourth, eliminate lunch on short day. Most of the students at my school do not eat anyway.
Fifth, halt all new school building projects until the economy turns around. Utilize the facilities we have, busing is cheaper than building.
Elementary Teacher says
Elementary instrumental music should be eliminated. This program benefits only a small percentage of the elementary students. Only 5th and 6th graders have the opportunity to take the classes. Probably only about half begin taking the classes and many drop out during the year. Two weekly forty minute sessions takes away too much instructional time from the classroom teacher. Those students that choose not to take instrumental music stay with their classroom teachers who are supposed to teach general music during that time. Students can begin instrumental music in junior high school.
YPP testing and Dibels testing is testing overkill. Dibels should certainly be stopped in 4, 5 and 6th grades.
Granite High School should be closed. It is far too costly. The programs at Granite High can be housed at a different location.
Concered Employee says
I would like to express a concern about the furlough days for employees. When the teachers received the extra professional devleopment days from the legislature what did the other employee groups receive? I beleive no additional compensation. But now when the teachers days are reduced (not their contracts because the days are additional) there is a call for all other distict employees to give. Lets see… teachers got additional days other school personnel did not but now that they have the days taken away please make all other grouips feel the pain when they never ever received any gain. Doing this would continue to support the predominant thinking that other school support personnel have no importance in supporting the education system. Let the teachers then empty the garbage. Clean the toliets pay the utility bills and let them run interference with the parents and administer disapline to studetns instead of sending these issues to the overly staffed and overly paid school adminstration.
The past few years the legistalure has tried to give teachers money and slap the faces of other workers supporting education. Granite would merly support the non informed state legistalture in their poor understanding that there are more than just teachers in education in negoatiating a furlough with other district groups. Teachers continue to want to receive pay for every small extra effort they do while no other such opportunities exist for other school personnel. Many who choose to support the education process even though they could make more money in the private sector but feel they want to help support the education of children.
Also has anyone looked at the enrollment level of current year round schools to see if some of those schools could be put back on traditional or single track schedules. This would save on the number of days a school would have staff in them and save utility costs.
Ruth Merrill says
How do I find out if administrators from the superintendent on down are also receiving a 5 day furlough? I would hope that sense of integrity would automatically dictate that they are, so I don’t want to accuse if it’s already a done deal. But how do I find out one way or the other? Lots of teachers want to know.
concerned says
As a teacher in the Granite School district and a former student of Granite High School (graduated in 2001) I must say Granite High is full of tradition and character. When I graduated there were only 200 students who graduated with my senior class. I agree with the others comments about flourishing in a small environment. It was a great school and a wonderful experience. However the “unreal” experience later impacted me negatively. I was not prepared to live in a competitive environment and I was not academically prepared for college. I was at the top of the class at Granite and I was able to be involved in every area… Great experiences, but I didn’t learn to be competitive and I did not receive a competent education. Although Granite is a great experience, it is not the kind that will help our youth develop coping skills in the real world. We need to close Granite High School and allocate that funding to necessary positions such as: reading coaches, reading specialists and music specialists.
Onto item number two; eliminating reading specialists/coaches. I am a first year teacher at a Granite Elementary school. I have my masters in elementary education, but I will be the first to tell you that we need this support. You do not understand the amount of support reading specialists and coaches give the the classroom teachers. Research in reading instruction is changing daily, do you think your teachers are reading about the changes? Well they are not. Without the specialists your students are not receiving the correct research based reading instruction. Even with my education I am still learning the best ways to teach reading. Can you imagine the instruction the students are receiving from an ARL teacher? I have watched these teachers during the reading block, and they need guidance and modeling from a specialist/coach. They don’t have any idea what guided reading looks like until they are helped by these specialists. Reading instruction is critical in elementary, you will make a huge mistake getting rid of these useful positions.
Clint Frohm says
Music is important. J. S. Bach said it best when he stated, “Life without music would be a mistake.” Can you see the joy in a child’s face as he/she experiences music? Eliminating the elementry music program would remove that joy for many children.
Every year about 4,000 5th and 6th grade students have the opportunity to learn how to play a musical instrument. They receive instruction from certified teachers during the regular school day, not before or after school. Some would never get this chance if it were not available in the school curriculum.
Many academic studies demonstrate that those who study music achieve at higher levels than do thier non-music peers. Standardized test scores are higher. Grade averages are higher. Graduation rates are higher. Attendance averages are higher. Quality of life is higher. Why would we not want all children to participate in muisc?
LIfe skills are acquired in music. The ability to work together, accountability, discipline, focus on excellence, multi-tasking, decoding and independence are among the essential traits acquired with extended involvement in music. These skills are necessary in the work force, in post-public school study, in family relationships and for success in life.
Creativity is fostered through music study. Music is one of the few subject areas where ceativity is a regular component of instruction. Can anyone deny the absolute necessity for creativity in our society today?
Plato said it best. “Muisc gives a soul to universe, wings to the mind, flght to the immagination and life to every thing.” We need not only to keep 5th and 6th grade band and orchestra, but we need to expand music instruction down into all elementary grades.
John Draper says
Dear “concerned”:
Granite High School is a different place now than it was in 2001. We have new leadership, and most of the teachers are new. I don’t see how you can compare it now to what it was almost a decade ago. Many of our recent alumni with whom I am in contact are doing very well in college, and feel like their education at Granite served them well. College isn’t really about “competition,” but about academic skills. You don’t compete with anyone but yourself.
Also, I wish that more people advocating the closure of Granite (or for any other reason) would have the courage to sign their names. It is difficult to take your comments at face value when you insist on posting anonymously.
John T. Draper
Spanish/English Teacher
Granite High School
John Draper says
I wish to amend my last comment. When I came to Granite in 2003, I found a very dedicated, competent and caring staff. I am not insinuating that previous Granite High leadership and faculty were ineffective or inadequate, but that there has been a “changing of the guard”, and with that, a new focus and mission.
Elementary school teacher says
Please Do not cut reading support in Elementary
Research about reading specialists:
“Teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction and that children who are struggling with reading receive additional instruction from professionals specifically prepared to teach them. Teaching all children to read also requires reading specialists in every school because the range of student achievement in classrooms, with the inclusion of children who have various physical, emotional, and educational needs, requires different educational models from those of the past.
In order to provide these services, schools must have reading specialists who can provide expert instruction, assessment, and leadership for the reading program. Reading specialists are professionals with advanced preparation and experience in reading who have responsibility for the literacy performance of readers in general and struggling readers in particular.”
Research was taken from an article on http://www.reading.org
Dear Superintendant,
I understand you are contemplating eliminating the reading coaches and reading specialists in Granite School District. Your title one schools are struggling because of reading achievement. If you take away this support, your teachers and students will suffer. Please do your research about the support these specialists contribute to your schools before you consider these cuts. Granite School district needs to stay current on researched reading instruction. Without these specialists, struggling readers and emergent readers will not receive the support and instruction they deserve.
Jennifer says
Hi my name is Jennifer I understand that there is not alot of kids going to this school but this school has inspired me to go to school! All the school that i have gone to I never want to go but with Grantie they help me to try and understand things better and most the people here are friendly and kind, I have met so many people and now i have a lot of friends!
Granite can not close down this school is like my home, I am homeless and with this school they try and help me and to secced in and they try and help me with transportation! I know every one that goes here and they try and help me has much as they can, I love this school! and i’m going to try and my hardest and best to make sure this school will not close down! I am going to fight for this school and i’m going to give every thing i got to make sure it does not close down this is a good school and i love this school!!
jeff says
i think we needs to all of us taken a furlowe to help out . we need too all cut back and prepair fore lean times. the stundents should come first.
An Elementary Attendance Specialist and Parent says
I would like to make a plug for the students in the district. It is imperative that students be educated in the most effective way possible with the funds available. I firmly believe that this means that alternative schooling must be available for those who need it, as well as extra programs for students who struggle in regular classrooms. I feel that the services provided at Granite High should continue to be made available, however a more cost effective way to service these students could and should be found. I also believe that reading specialists in elementary schools are necessary in today’s educational environment.
This being said, I would like to beat a dead horse by saying that I think the rebuilding of Wasatch Junior High was an unconscionable choice given the budget situation we are currently facing. I know that this decision cannot be reversed, but let’s not make this same mistake again, please. As a parent that takes advantage of the opportunity to send my children to an out of neighborhood school, I feel that even if this opportunity had to be taken away, we should use the building space that we already have rather than build un-needed buildings because a few parents with time, money, political clout, and social standing are so vocal and weild undue influence and pressure for such irresponsible decisions to be made. I will go so far as to say that my children attended Churchill Junior High while Wasatch was housed there, and to my knowlege no one suffered tremendously from this situation. Now there are empty classrooms in both buildings, and here we are wondering why our spending is so out of line with our budget. Go figure. While I appreciate that my own children benefit from the opportunity to attend a better school, I would be happy to have them attend a neighborhood school if there were not such an opportunity. I would not be as happy as I am now, but who gets to be happy all of the time? It is truly not fair that children on the east side of the valley have the opportunity to recieve a better education than those on the west side, but that is an argument for another day.
I think that before any decisions are made to cut funding for programs and people, the impact on students must be assessed. After all, while I agree that this job would be so much easier if it weren’t for the kids, (I say this toungue in cheek), we must remember why we are here–that is to educate children for the good of our community.
On music, the research in this area supports the need for music in the curriculum. This cannot be considered extra-curricular. Period.
I have not read anything about elementary attendance specialists and the need for them on this blog so far, and since this is my position I feel that it is an important one. However, if this needs to be cut, so be it. I do feel that by catching and solving attendance problems early, the elementary attendance specialists are solving problems for the future. If you look at the proposed savings for cutting these hourly positions, it is small compared to the number of employees and students affected by it. I notice that the number of positions affected by many of the proposed cuts are listed next to the amount of projected savings in the presentation from the last board meeting, but not for this position. Interesting, I think. I personally work with over 120 students a year that would potentially progress toward attendance issues that would affect their learning and achievement were it not for the intervention I provide. In a school of just over 700 students, this is a significant number.
In conclusion, academic excellence benefits society as a whole. Academic excellence starts in elementary school where attitudes, habits, and educational foundations are built. If we start cutting, please, let’s decide what truly benefits our children and our community before we do so. We owe that to our children and to ourselves.