Seeking Teacher Input

by Carrie Adams

8 comments

1 Anon E. Muss { 01.27.10 at 8:36 pm }

Books. Curriculum we are mandated to teach, not enough materials ordered, so we COPY BOOKS AND CONSUMABLES. Isn’t that illegal???? Copying classroom sets of books? We are told by supervisors regularly to do this. You HAVE TO TEACH this stuff, so we have no choice.

I’d love to see someone call the publishing companies and blow the lid on this….

2 Carrie Adams { 01.27.10 at 9:19 pm }

Thank you for the response. I asked the question because Title I carried over $2,845,562 from 08/09.

For years, indiviudal schools have returned large sums of Title I funds at the end of the year because administrators didn’t use them. The total Title 1-A budget for PPS for 09/10 is $36,297,772.

Which publishing companies?

3 Carrie Adams { 01.27.10 at 10:47 pm }

Anon E. Muss, do teachers know how much their schools have allocated for Title I, SPED, ESL etc. and are they familiar with how the money can be spent?

4 Anon E. Muss { 01.28.10 at 4:24 am }

Heck, no!!! Money–have no clue–maybe some teachers do, if they are chummy with principals, but I’ve never been told. Our school WAS a Title 1 school–are there any left in Portland?

Publishing companies? Cambium Learning, that publishes the Language! curriculum that Sped teachers were trained on for 3 days last spring. Most of us were given 5 or so copies of texts and consumables, saying the rest would come in this past summer and “someone from the district would bring them personally from the publisher by the time school starts”. This is a HS text. TEachers are copying MOUNDS OF THIS STUFF, because the district again rolled out a curriculum with inadequate materials! I will look up the publisher. ILLEGAL, ILLEGAL, ILLEGAL!!!! Teachers are mandated to use this curriculum–copy or face insubordination and a poor evaluation—great choice, huh?

5 Carrie Adams { 01.28.10 at 5:24 am }

There are 34 elementary including K-8s, 3 middle and 3 high school campus Title I schools. In the last few years some schools have had up to $72,000 remaining at the end of the school year.

6 Zarwen { 01.31.10 at 12:44 pm }

It is a longstanding practice for principals to withhold information about money like this, even though it is supposed to be PUBLIC information under the law. I vividly remember going around and around with a principal back in the mid-90′s, trying to get him to show us the figures. He kept saying he’d have it at the “next meeting,” but of course that meeting never came. We even called the PAT in on this, because it was such a blatant violation of public records laws, but somehow they weren’t able to do anything either. So I believe that the head honchos are the ones telling the principals to keep this PUBLIC info secret.

7 Stephanie { 01.31.10 at 1:35 pm }

Question about how to advocate as a parent for making sure Title I and SpEd money is being used up and properly:
I recently spoke with my principal about the ARRA money and also the parent involvement plan required as a Title I school. He said that he reports what we are doing as a school that reaches out to parents to the district as part of the plan in a nutshell. He is a good guy so I just want to be informed and know how to advocate for all of our money being spent and ways to suggest it be spent.
My SpEd question, the way I understand it is that IDEA money is used as a general fund and the money does not follow the student to their school, is this correct? Now of course we know the money follows the student in the school choice world so why isn’t this true for SpEd? For example, there is a parent I am advocating with at my school because they have suggested her son be placed elsewhere. The buzz is that it was said in a meeting if we had the funding to support his needs that it would not be a question. My daughter receives SpEd services but does not use much other than speech so presumably that would leave extra money for someone with higher needs in our school. If the SpEd money followed the student like it does in enrollment then this young man should be able to have what he needs to stay in our school, right? I am trying to get educated on the funding because I want to fight the multiple transfers of students with disabilities and also the inadequate training and supports general ed teachers get to support these kids. I was talking to my daughter’s K teacher and brought up merit pay and how someone like her who was very good with high needs kids would essentially be “punished” by receiving more high needs kids because she was skilled at it and that could lead to loss of incentive when really she was working 10x harder than everyone else. Are my points correct and any advice about how to advocate for the funding being used up and also pushing for SpEd money to follow the student?

8 Carrie Adams { 02.01.10 at 8:12 pm }

Stephanie, sorry for the delay. I’m out of town now and have limited internet access. It’s my understanding that SPED dollars follow the student. You’re probably more knowledgable about that than I am though. I do know that schoolwide Title I schools are allowed to comingle Title I, SPED, TAG, ESL funds etc. That’s one of the benefits of being “schoolwide.” Considering that Title I carried over almost $3 million last year, I think the very LEAST the district can do is make the allocations and expenditures more transparent. I have some specific ideas about that but would like to touch base next week when I return.

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