In Volusia County, when teacher is out, so is class -- OrlandoSentinel.com
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In Volusia County, when teacher is out, so is class
Dave Weber | Sentinel Staff Writer
January 30, 2009
DeLAND - Students at DeLand High School are being warehoused in an old gym when their teachers are absent because there is not enough money for substitutes.
Each class period, seven periods a day, 200 or more students are sent to the ancient airplane-hangar-style gym, which has no heating or air conditioning. They are told to sit on the old bleachers, talk quietly and behave.
Some may read, but there is no instruction and no incentive to study.
"It's a holding tank for 50 minutes," Principal Mitch Moyer said.
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Moyer says flatly that "there is no benefit to students" by sending them to the gym when their teachers are out. He simply does not have the money to pay subs.
It is much the same in schools across Volusia County because the district has chopped funding for substitute teachers. The $900,000 in savings is needed to help cover a $13.7 million cut in state funding ordered by the state Legislature this month.
Under contract changes proposed Thursday by negotiators for the School Board, middle- and high-school teachers could be told to use their planning periods to cover classes for teachers who are absent. Elementary teachers would have to take extra students for the day.
"We are looking for a bridge to make it through this year," said Richard Kizma, chief negotiator for the School Board.
Andrew Spar, president of the Volusia Teachers Organization, said the union might accept the change if any teacher wasn't required to cover for others more than twice a month. He also suggested that school and district administrators should volunteer to sub, too.
Under the current contract, teachers would get extra pay to take on extra students for the day, but there is no money for that this year, officials say, and no money to hire more than a few substitutes.
As a result, DeLand High, which has 192 teachers and about 3,300 students, can afford to hire only three subs a day if its budget is to stretch for the rest of the year. On a typical day, 12 to 15 teachers might be out.
The solution is to round up kids from all the classes where teachers are absent, put them in the gym and stick the three substitutes in there to ride herd.
When the gym is at capacity, one of the subs takes up to 75 kids to a large meeting room across campus. It hasn't happened yet, but the backup plan for a day with lots of teachers out is to have campus security watch some kids in the cafeteria.
With some success, Principal Moyer has asked teachers to drag themselves to school unless they are very ill. Thursday, only seven teachers were out, but that was enough to send about 200 students to the gym.
School Board member Candace Lankford, who represents DeLand, said the "super sub centers," as the schools are calling them, are a necessity that cannot be justified for any reason except to save money.
"Is it academic excellence? Probably not," said Lankford. "However, we don't have an alternative available to our principals right now."
That's because state funding cuts have cost the district about $45 million during the past two years. Deputy Superintendent Robert Moll said Thursday that Volusia schools can expect another $45 million in cuts for the coming year.
Text size: increase text sizedecrease text size
In Volusia County, when teacher is out, so is class
Dave Weber | Sentinel Staff Writer
January 30, 2009
DeLAND - Students at DeLand High School are being warehoused in an old gym when their teachers are absent because there is not enough money for substitutes.
Each class period, seven periods a day, 200 or more students are sent to the ancient airplane-hangar-style gym, which has no heating or air conditioning. They are told to sit on the old bleachers, talk quietly and behave.
Some may read, but there is no instruction and no incentive to study.
"It's a holding tank for 50 minutes," Principal Mitch Moyer said.
Related links
*
School Zone blog
The latest about Central Florida schools...
U.S. Rep Kosmas joins effort to get Florida full share of federal stimulus money
Most Central Florida teachers don't know yet whether they'll get raises
Florida gets C- on teacher reviews
Florida PTA seeks a few good parents to lobby legislators for more schools money
Lee Middle School student publish a book about tween life
More...
More Orlando Sentinel blogs
*
Search: 2008 Florida school grades Search: 2008 Florida school grades
*
Search: 2008 FCAT scores Search: 2008 FCAT scores
*
Search: Find out how your high school rates Search: Find out how your high school rates
*
Data Central: School-by-school information
Moyer says flatly that "there is no benefit to students" by sending them to the gym when their teachers are out. He simply does not have the money to pay subs.
It is much the same in schools across Volusia County because the district has chopped funding for substitute teachers. The $900,000 in savings is needed to help cover a $13.7 million cut in state funding ordered by the state Legislature this month.
Under contract changes proposed Thursday by negotiators for the School Board, middle- and high-school teachers could be told to use their planning periods to cover classes for teachers who are absent. Elementary teachers would have to take extra students for the day.
"We are looking for a bridge to make it through this year," said Richard Kizma, chief negotiator for the School Board.
Andrew Spar, president of the Volusia Teachers Organization, said the union might accept the change if any teacher wasn't required to cover for others more than twice a month. He also suggested that school and district administrators should volunteer to sub, too.
Under the current contract, teachers would get extra pay to take on extra students for the day, but there is no money for that this year, officials say, and no money to hire more than a few substitutes.
As a result, DeLand High, which has 192 teachers and about 3,300 students, can afford to hire only three subs a day if its budget is to stretch for the rest of the year. On a typical day, 12 to 15 teachers might be out.
The solution is to round up kids from all the classes where teachers are absent, put them in the gym and stick the three substitutes in there to ride herd.
When the gym is at capacity, one of the subs takes up to 75 kids to a large meeting room across campus. It hasn't happened yet, but the backup plan for a day with lots of teachers out is to have campus security watch some kids in the cafeteria.
With some success, Principal Moyer has asked teachers to drag themselves to school unless they are very ill. Thursday, only seven teachers were out, but that was enough to send about 200 students to the gym.
School Board member Candace Lankford, who represents DeLand, said the "super sub centers," as the schools are calling them, are a necessity that cannot be justified for any reason except to save money.
"Is it academic excellence? Probably not," said Lankford. "However, we don't have an alternative available to our principals right now."
That's because state funding cuts have cost the district about $45 million during the past two years. Deputy Superintendent Robert Moll said Thursday that Volusia schools can expect another $45 million in cuts for the coming year.
