I am sad tonite. The financial problems of the state have reached the fairly stable school corp. where I teach kdg. We learned at the end of the day today that 4 of our paras (3 of whom help in kdg classrooms) were told that they will not have employment after the close of school on Monday. They were devestated and we were greatly saddened. My para will be back, but she was told that she most likely will not be in my classroom. She and I have become extremely close over the past 3 years and work so well together. Not a great way to start the weekend.

I'm sorry to hear that. I also work for a school district. My hours were cut by 16% and I will now have to travel 2 hours one way to work. But, I have a job. Over 300 school teachers and staff were laid off in my area.

Its so sad to hear of more people losing their jobs, esp. when its so hard to find a new one!

We are thinking of parochial school for our son next year. He is in kindergarten this year and will be in first grade next year.

We were told this week that one teacher will be cut from each grade and the classes combined to save money. So now there will be 24 kids in his class next year, and no aids. That is one teacher to teach 24 kids how to read. By herself/himself.

I volunteer a few hours a week right now, but I have a younger child and it's hard to find a babysitter for me, so until he is in school, I can't volunteer many more hours.

What is going on with our country? It's ridiculous! We are robbing our children and not even giving them the education they will need to fix our mistakes. It's a tragedy.

ETA- we have not priced parochial school yet, but are thinking that it will be an investment in our son's future and well worth the money. Even if we have to go outside our religion, which we would have to do in our area.

Also- if the school was a daycare, it would be illegal for them to have that many kids per caregiver. Why should we expect daycares to provide 1 adult per 8 kids, but our teachers to care for and TEACH 3 times that?

Ok, sorry. I'll get off my soapbox now. LOL!

Lisa, I know I'm old, but in the early 60's when I was in 1st grade, there was 1 teacher per classroom and 30+ kids in that classroom. No aids, no nothing...I learned to read, so did your parents.
I was very active at school, when my boys were growing up. I held every office in the PTA and then some. So I do understand your dilemma.
OK, I'm off my soapbox, too.

When school districts cut teachers and aides why don't they cut from the top. I wonder how many jobs could done away with on the district level. Possible build school with usable teaching areas, Use the money for education not fancy buildings.
My soapbox: Back in the 50's and 60's students were taught respect at home. Where has respectand dicipline gone? Many parents don't care where their kids are, as long as they don't have to take care of them.

I absolutely agree with the respect taught at home thing. I am in my son's classroom enough to see how much of the teacher's time is spent controlling disruptive kids. She does a great job and I am not knocking her at all- she is wonderful with keeping the kids in lines and other "crowd control" techniques. She shouldn't have to spend so much time doing that.

When I was these kids' age I called every adult "Mr." or "Mrs." without fail. It's the norm now for all kids to call adults by their first name. DH and I tell our kids to say "Miss Emily" or whatever, because our friends actually get kind of offended when we tell the kids to call them Mr. or Mrs. X. They say it makes them feel "old". Well, they are! They are the grownups!! Act like it!

I also think there is a problem in society in general with the nuclear family. I think there are only maybe 25% of the kids in my son's class where the parents are together, much less married to each other. So many of them say things like, "oh, we have that at my dad's house" or "I am at my mom's this weekend so I can't come over". The kids are all so matter-of-fact about it. I realize that there are cases where divorce is necessary, but it can't be this often. (Although there are days when I wouldn't mind one!!! LOL!)

I hate to see these cuts. These kids are our future and we are shortchanging them. I agree years ago there was one teacher for 25 students but there were mothers who didn't have to work and could help in the classrooms too. Kids in my class knew they had to behave or they had to answer to their parents. And most had to answer and were taught respect. Times have changed and so have schools. We need to take care of our kids because they will be taking care of us someday.

EXACTLY what we've been grousing about. We had 30+ students in our classrooms, too, and didn't have an assistant NOR any parents volunteering. The only time I remember a parent in class was on a special day and our parents were invited to come and OBSERVE. I have my opinion on what they DON'T need to be teaching in classrooms....they need to spend more time on the 3-Rs.....And they need administration to BACK them with problem students. My SIL is retired as of yesterday from teaching. She has told me some awful stories about students and what they do in the classroom and her hands are tied. The way education is failing our children is a damn shame