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scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,732
3,330
Sowal
I think athletics should be a part of schools, but am constantly appalled at how high of a priority they are given - especially at the expense of education.

Even IF your child becomes a college varsity athlete, the odds of them becoming a pro are around 7%.

Sports are an extracurricular activity - there should not be practices during the school day, academic credit should not be given for participating in them, and only students with a certain GPA, attendance, and good behavior record should be allowed to participate.

I don't know what exactly a reading coach is, but IMO learning to read properly is a hell of a lot more important than anything else going on on a school campus.
 

GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,816
1,921
how sad is that...and not just for those young people who will suffer for it for a long time, if not all their lives; but, sad for the rest of our society because it affects each of us.

Do you have any suggestion about how to make a change? Isn't someone in your family a teacher...how frustrating that must be.
 

Teresa

SoWal Guide
Staff member
Nov 15, 2004
30,250
9,279
South Walton, FL
sowal.com
I wonder what the decision was based on? was it not effective? do they have something else planned for improving reading education? Everyone knows the importance of reading so I wonder what the school system is doing to make sure all students have every opportunity to develop good reading. well, hopefully the teachers are skilled in teaching reading, but they need all the resources they can get. including, for example, child development specialists who can consult with kids, parents and teachers about normal, but varied developmental milestones regarding eyes/vision/neurological processes at various stages as the child grows. lots of kids are quickly put in the learning disability category when its just a developmental/eye thing that a good consultant can test for in two seconds. presentation of the material needs a little adjustment and then the kid can get (properly see) what you are trying to teach.

we've learned these "little" things about reading through parent education classes at our montessori school. these are the little things that truly make a big difference.

so maybe coaches are critical (we use volunteers - parents or anyone in the community who has an interest in working with kids on a one on one basis with reading). and maybe other aspects of reading are also critical to continually look at, evaluate, and bring into the schools.
 

TechPyle

Beach Lover
May 10, 2009
67
17
Way over the rainbow
Parents should be willing to pay a little to have their students play sports...Education in Schools should be for learning...math, reading, science, history etc. As a former teacher I have seen an annual school athletic budget 3 or 4 times larger than that for an academic budget...one of the reasons I have been given from my superiors..."sports bring in money." (I always thought if they bring in the money why do they need to pull from the limited school budget that most School Boards give to schools...why not let them pay for themselves.)


Is there any way to get the total outlay of sports programs to compare it to the total income generated by the programs? That would include the cost of coaches and support personell. Maybe the taxpayers association could look into this?
 

momof2kids

Beach Fanatic
May 17, 2007
797
115
Santa Rosa Beach
I wonder what the decision was based on? was it not effective? do they have something else planned for improving reading education? Everyone knows the importance of reading so I wonder what the school system is doing to make sure all students have every opportunity to develop good reading. well, hopefully the teachers are skilled in teaching reading, but they need all the resources they can get. including, for example, child development specialists who can consult with kids, parents and teachers about normal, but varied developmental milestones regarding eyes/vision/neurological processes at various stages as the child grows. lots of kids are quickly put in the learning disability category when its just a developmental/eye thing that a good consultant can test for in two seconds. presentation of the material needs a little adjustment and then the kid can get (properly see) what you are trying to teach.

we've learned these "little" things about reading through parent education classes at our montessori school. these are the little things that truly make a big difference.

so maybe coaches are critical (we use volunteers - parents or anyone in the community who has an interest in working with kids on a one on one basis with reading). and maybe other aspects of reading are also critical to continually look at, evaluate, and bring into the schools.

From what I have heard it is based on cutting money from everywhere in the district. There are 6 coaches for the entire district which are shared throughout the district. They are getting cut down to 2 coaches to share throughout the district. I believe the coaches are the coordinators of the reading programs in the schools and there are people under them that help the students. I could be wrong, but this is how it sounded to me.

There are also cuts being made to the supplemental positions as well. (yearbook, web site maintenance on school levels, math, science, language arts - staff gets extra pay to take care of extra things at the school).

These are just a few things that will be cut. It's scary the changes that are being made. Unfortunately parents don't know how to get involved to make changes. In my case I work nights so I am never able to make the drive to the School Board Meetings which are an hour away from my house anyway so I always feel like I can't do much because my participation in the meetings in non-existent. I do what I can at the school level to help though.
 

GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,816
1,921
From what I have heard it is based on cutting money from everywhere in the district. There are 6 coaches for the entire district which are shared throughout the district. They are getting cut down to 2 coaches to share throughout the district. I believe the coaches are the coordinators of the reading programs in the schools and there are people under them that help the students. I could be wrong, but this is how it sounded to me.

There are also cuts being made to the supplemental positions as well. (yearbook, web site maintenance on school levels, math, science, language arts - staff gets extra pay to take care of extra things at the school).

These are just a few things that will be cut. It's scary the changes that are being made. Unfortunately parents don't know how to get involved to make changes. In my case I work nights so I am never able to make the drive to the School Board Meetings which are an hour away from my house anyway so I always feel like I can't do much because my participation in the meetings in non-existent. I do what I can at the school level to help though.

IYO are there enough parents interested enough to get involved if they knew what to do?
I'd be willing to do a workshop on advocacy for free if parents would show up and then follow through on making a difference in the reading, writing, arts, etc.
 

ShallowsNole

Beach Fanatic
Jun 22, 2005
4,292
849
Pt Washington
and this is okay with the parents of the students who need reading coaches?

That is not what I said.

However, this is where the parents of the students who need reading coaches need to get the word out, because the rest of us have no other way of finding these things out. I am glad that WZEP reported it, and even more proud that someone heard/read it and posted it on SoWal. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a clue.

As far as parents contributing toward the athletic programs, what leads people to believe they don't already?
 

GoodWitch58

Beach Fanatic
Oct 10, 2005
4,816
1,921
That is not what I said.

However, this is where the parents of the students who need reading coaches need to get the word out, because the rest of us have no other way of finding these things out. I am glad that WZEP reported it, and even more proud that someone heard/read it and posted it on SoWal. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a clue.

As far as parents contributing toward the athletic programs, what leads people to believe they don't already?

SN, I didn't say you did say that. there was a ? at the end. I was asking for your opinion, or for some reason why this happens.
Do parents contribute to the school athletic program?
I am trying to get enough information to understand why cutting 6 reading coaches who apparently work with the entire school district down to 2 for the entire district, is okay, but cutting anything from the athletic program is not okay!

Just as not using volunteers to staff the Coastal Branch library so some of those students might go do their homework and research and writing reports on Saturdays...was okay too.

I just think the priorities are misplaced. But...

The info I have is about the reading coaches is from WZEP, and I have no idea whether it's accurate or incomplete...trying to find out from the school system is difficult. and takes forever..so, if you have more information that can shed some light on the matter, can you share it with us and maybe some effort could be made to help keep the reading program more active.
 
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Busta Hustle

Beach Fanatic
Apr 11, 2007
434
34
With all due respect I truly can not figure out how the school board is out of money after how much they collected from 2000 to 2007 alone.

Where does it all go? free lunches? transportation? lost by bad investments? over spent on building? paying for legal defense?
 
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