Jeffco School Dist Cuts 40 million dollars, closes schools

This is going to be very bad for parents as we are asked to shoulder even more of the costs of putting our children through schools.

Just heard they're closing a number of schools. Waiting to hear which ones. I'm sure they'll have to cut programs, too.

School closures are on the table.......they play this close to the vest to keep the community "in line". With a shrinking tax base (foreclosures in mass this year) much more to follow.

Here are cuts announced today...

* A 3 percent loss of compensation for all employees, resulting in a four-work-day reduction and two student-contact furlough days.
* The closure of Martensen and Zerger elementary schools.
* A loss of 212 jobs throughout the district, including teachers, administrators and support staff.
* Moving Long View High School staff and students to McLain High School
* Higher athletic fees
* Transportation fees
* The suspension of the outdoor lab experience for Jeffco sixth-graders at Mt. Evans and Windy Peak

Where is Long View High School?

kresspin wrote: This is going to be very bad for parents as we are asked to shoulder even more of the costs of putting our children through schools.

Are you serious??? And why as a parent should you NOT shoulder more of YOUR children's educational costs??

This is the stuff that makes me crazy!!! :bash

Did you attend public or private school? Did your parents pay school taxes for your education?

I know a teacher in North Jeffco and her classes are expanding to 45 students.

kresspin wrote: Did you attend public or private school? Did your parents pay school taxes for your education?

And your point is?

They haven't cut any athletic activities, such as football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, cheerleading. Why not? They have to pay extra for coaches, buses and bus drivers, equipment, maintenance and upkeep, to name a few things. That $200 per pupil who participates doesn't pay for all of it.

What is so sancrosanct about these sports that the taxpayers support so a few kids can get athletic scholarships? I'd sure like to know the ratio of sports scholarships to academic scholarships. I'm going to look and report back.

"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson

We focus on the wrong things in our educational system. How many studies have come out showing teenagers circadian rhythyms are different? Yet we still expect our high schoolers to succeed with early schedules. We expect children raised in poverty to perform to the same standards as more privileged students. We give athletes special status and hold them to different standards. We stop education and force all the kids to attend pep rallies. We cram 30 kids into a crowded, overheated classroom and expect them to attend diligently to their lessons. We herd them from one class to another like cattle but expect them to take responsibility. We pay administrators six figure salaries while we cut the front line teachers salaries. We cut out recesses and wonder why the kids wig out.

I could keep going for hours. Bottom line-We shifted the focus from what is good for the kids to what is good for the industry.

Trouble wrote:

kresspin wrote: Did you attend public or private school? Did your parents pay school taxes for your education?

And your point is?

My point is your parents didn't shoulder anywhere near the costs of putting you through school as we parents have to shoulder now. And we're paying higher taxes now than when your parents paid taxes. It's not like we're asking for freebies here. We pay school taxes for this. Where is the money going? Why is education the first thing to be cut? How many tanks and nuclear bombs do we really need?