Up until now, we’ve just seen some general information on the proposed math and science academy charter school. But now the Peoria Charter School Initiative has released its “Design Framework” — a detailed, 41-page document that goes over everything from curriculum to cost:
Peoria Charter School Initiative Design Framework
Take a look at it. What do you think? I haven’t had time to thoroughly read over it, but I did note that they’re planning on longer school days (8:00-3:20) and more school days per year (200). It seems whenever anyone wants to improve education, more time spent in school is part of the solution — everywhere except in District 150’s regular schools, that is.
Sharon… I DO love you!
It’s the same reason why I didn’t generally enjoy survey classes while I was in college: I much prefer discussion to lectures. But in classes of 25, 30 or up to 80, you’re just a name, and it’s too easy to hide. In smaller classes (my senior seminars had 15 or fewer), there’s much more time for discussion and exchange of ideas.
If you have fewer students, you have the potential for fewer discipline problems. With fewer students, you have more time to devote to each student. You can see academic problems that arise much more quickly if there are fewer students. Students can’t hide as easily.
Why hasn’t the district figured out the benefits of smaller classes? My kindergarten student had roughly 27 students in her class most of the year, with only a part-time aid.
Martha: District 150 knows the benefit of small classes–it’s the taxpayers who can’t or don’t want to pay for them. Also, District 150 knows the benefit of smaller schools (they once advocated them), but lack of money has caused 150 to pretend that larger schools are better. Of course, Hinton doesn’t advocate a large enrollment at his “repurposed” Woodruff. He wants only 500 in a building that now holds double that number.
I don’t believe money is the issue: we pay more in registration and book fees per child than any other district in the area. We pay more per child to educate our children than any other district in the area (I’d be curious to know where we fall in statewide per capita spending). We’re cutting the “non-essential” programs (like fine arts). The money is there. On what is it being spent?
Pet projects? Non-essential curriculum? Top heavy administration? Political favors?
Try to follow my logic here:
* big government programs tend to be fraught with waste and inefficiency (much less concern for the bottom line or for accomplishing anything)
* big box stores/malls occupy large parcels of land for one-story buildings and a sea of parking, which are inefficient uses of space
* bigger vehicles tend to be less efficient
Doesn’t it stand to reason that bigger isn’t always better? It’s just bigger… and less efficient. I speak as much of big classrooms and big schools as I do of BIG ADMINISTRATIONS.
Exactly how many years ago did D150 begin its long decent, bringing us to where we are today? 25? 35? Was it ever run by sound fiscal and educational policies?
Martha: I agree that the money was there–but much of it has been squandered. At the last BOE meeting, I stated something similar to what you just said–any money they save on closing a high school will not be saved; it will be spent on something 150 administrators deem more important. I am willing to bet that most of the overspending began because of NCLB. I’d like to see an accounting of how much money has been spent on programs, consultants, etc.–expenses related to some magic cure to get kids to pass the NCLB test: Johns Hopkins, numerous reading tests, benchmarks, 21 Keys, and many that I can’t even name. 150 makes the public believe that the overspending is on teachers’ salaries, but I believe there are many other education fund expenditures that have created the deficit.
Martha,
What are the fees in 150? I cannot find amounts on the PSD150 web site. What districts are you using for comparison?
Do middle and high school students pay fees for athletics and fine arts?
I would imagine there will be 25 students per class. Washington Gifted has 30 per class. It seems to work there. I think 25 is a manageable number for middle school, assuming most of the children attending are doing so by choice and their behavior may be more compliant than the general student population. I am hopeful that the new charter school will establish its own discipline code that will control errant behavior.
Emphasis on math and science seems reasonable for a charter school of the same name. Hopefully it will be a more challenging curriculum than currently in place at other District 150 schools. As Sharon repeatedly states (and rightly so), parents are looking for more discipline in the schools, but many are also looking for an enhanced curriculum as well.
For a high school graduate to ensure a spot at a top engineering school they must earn a minimum of a 30 on the ACT . . . this does not happen by magic.
JV,
As a parent of 2 HS juniors–we will pay
The textbook and supply fees for the 2009-2010 school year will be:
Half-Day Kindergarten $ 50.00*
Full-Day Kindergarten $100.00*
Grades 1-4 $110.00*
Grades 5-8 $110.00*
Grades 9-12 $130.00*
*If paid in full by October 1, 2009 a 50% discount will apply and the rate will be:
Half-Day Kindergarten $ 25.00
Full-Day Kindergarten $ 50.00
Grades 1-4 $ 55.00
Grades 5-8 $ 55.00
Grades 9-12 $ 65.00
GYM SUIT FEES –
The gym suit fees for secondary students for the 2009-2010 school year will be:
GIRLS: $10.00 BOYS: $10.00
(Jerseys, $5.00 Shorts, $5.00) (Jerseys, $5.00 Shorts, $5.00)
TOWEL FEE FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS –
$10.00.
PROJECT MATERIAL CARDS FOR SECONDARY STUDENTS –
$10.00 EACH
LAB FEES –
A Lab Fee for high school students for the 2009-2010 school year will be $12.00 for the following lab
classes: Physics 1-2, Physics 1-2E, Physics 3-4E
Chemistry 1-2, Chemistry 1-2E, Chemistry 3-4E
Biology 1-2, Biology 1-2E, Biology 3-4E
Anatomy Physiology 1-2E
Horticulture 1-2
TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT –
For those students who reside less than 1-1/2 miles from school and request bus service, the
charges will be as follows:
Payments Payments Payments
For the Year By the Semester By School Month
(1 payment) (2 payments) *(9 payments)
1 child $130.00 $ 65.00 *$14.45
2 children $178.00 $ 89.00 *$19.80
3 or more children $202.00 $101.00 *$22.45
*ARRANGEMENTS MAY BE MADE TO PAY THE FULL-SEMESTER OR FULL YEAR AMOUNT ON A MONTHLY
BASIS. THE MONTHLY PAYMENTS ARE NOT A PLAN FOR TRANSPORTATION BY THE MONTH. FEES ARE TO
BE PAID IN ADVANCE OR BY THE MONTHLY PAYMENT. IF THEY ARE NOT PAYING MONTHLY AND PAYMENT
IS NOT MADE, TRASNPORTATION SHOULD BE NOTIFED AND SERVICE WILL BE TERMINATED. IF THEY OWE
FROM THE PREVIOUS SCHOOL YEAR, THEY WILL BE DENIED BUS SERVICE.
Rate to be charged for transportation for students who move into the District after school begins:
1 child $ .73 per day
2 children $ 1.01 per day
3 or more children $ 1.15 per day
TRANSPORTATION FEES FOR THE 2009-2010 SCHOOL YEAR – ALLTRIPS:
$.85 per mile will be charged for trips PLUS $15.08 per hour for regular time
RECORDS DEPARTMENT FEES FOR 2009-2010
Transcript $5.00
Immunizations $5.00
This information is courtesy of http://www.psd150.org/parents/docs/SchoolInfo/09-10_Student_Fees.pdf
They will also be required to pay for a planner ($10). We are required to pay for PE fees at registration and then wait for the district to refund the money when they realize that the student in is Band and has a PE waiver. That usually takes about 9 weeks.
Wow! I did not know that kids had to pay to be bused. So all the kids at Kingman who used to live walking distance from a school now have to pay to be transported all over the district. Do kids who are on free or reduced lunch pay these same fees–or are those fees at taxpayers’ expense?
Registration and book fees are lumped into the same figure. Extra curricular information has been included when I could find it.
As far as elementary school in 150, there were fees for: soccer, drama, cheerleading. I don’t know about speech or chess. There was no fee for orchestra last year, but at this time D150 has decided not to include orchestra in grade schools.
Washington Grade – Dist. 52 — $60
Washington Central – Dist. 51 — $50
Beverly Manor – Dist. 52 — $30/34 (extra curricular activities are partially funded through Box Tops for Education)
Dunlap Schools – n/a
Morton Grade – Dist 709 — $62 (extra fee for extra curricular participation)
Brimfield Grade – Dist 309 — $55
Pekin – Dist 108 — $75
Chillicothe Dist 321 — n/a
Bartonville – all grade schools n/a
Farmington Dist 265 — $50
Germantown Hills #69 — $50, plus $25 for all field trips (jr high has $25 participation fee for each sport, cheerleading, etc. does not include fine arts)
Eureka #140 – n/a
Elmwood #322 – $50
Canton #66 – n/a
Illini Bluffs – n/a
Olympia CUSD 16 – $95 plus $85 fee for one or more extra curricular activities (middle and high schools only)
Bloomington Dist #87 — $55
Maybe I misunderstood–are the transportation fees only for those who live closer than 1 1/2 miles and request the service–but free for those who live farther away?
Don’t forget the cost of cookies and holiday wrapping paper…
We all know that $10,000 per student is not enough money to be able to teach them anything!
Frustrated: “ensure a spot at a top engineering school they must earn a minimum of a 30 on the ACT”
You make it sound like the ACT (or SAT) has any predictive value on a person’s ability to do a job or be a good engineer. I believe my father once told me that his engineering training from IIT was never used once he got on the job. Did you know that those tests only suggest the potential for a student’s success in college?
Standardized testing, for all of its convenience and cost efficiency, is not even one of the best the methods of evaluating students’ intelligence, learning ability and problem solving skills.
I realize that Stanford, Cal Tech, MIT and other great schools may still require them, but is that the purpose of high schools and the public school system? To get SOME VERY FEW kids into big name colleges?
I always thought education was about society, not individuals.
Kcdad: You are so right. The importance of standardized tests in predicting success is highly overrated. Isn’t it amazing that students of my era graduated high school and got into college without benefit of the ACT or any other standardized test? I believe colleges did give their own entrance tests. In the era before computers, testing on a national or even state level was impossible. I am sure the more prestigious schools will continue to rely on these high ACT scores as predictors. They will be getting students who are good test takers. Not all good students are good test takers. For the most part, public schools are filled with kids who cannot pass the NCLB ACT test. Steve Ptacek has the right idea about these tests. We can’t just throw these kids on a “garbage heap” because of this one test–but that is exactly what we are doing in Illinois by asking all students to pass this test.
kcdad:
Please check out this link — September 1, 2009 – 8 pm (EST)
http://www.arbinger.com/en/communitycall.html
What do you think?
Test scores are countable and when you are accountable to those who give you money you have to show them numbers… Education is a business just like selling shoes, except their bottom line should be people, not numbers.
Here are the registration fees for IVC (Chillicothe) District 321
INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FEE
Each pupil is required to pay a textbook fee at the time of registration. The textbook fee is used to purchase basic and auxiliary texts; periodicals; workbooks; science, home economics, industrial arts, music and art materials and supplies. The following fee schedule approximates the cost to the District of books and consumable supplies at each level.
Grades K-8 – $40, High School – $65
User fees include: Athletics $12.50 per athlete per sport (5-9) $25 per athlete per sport (10-12)
Cheerleading/Pom Pons $12.50 per participant (7-12)
Band $12.50 per participant (6-9) $25 per participant (10-12)
Chorus $12.50 per participant (7-12)
Speech $12.50 per participant (6-9) $25 per participant (10-12)
STUDENT LUNCH PROGRAM
A complete Type A lunch is available in each school for every elementary and high school student. The lunches are served through a contract with Aramark Food Services. They will meet nutritional requirements for good health, as established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the National School Lunch Act. Students are urged to eat the Type A lunch each day, thereby assuring themselves of at least one well-balanced meal daily.
The prices of lunches for 2009-2010 school year will be as follows:
GRADES PRICES
K-4 $1.40
5-8 $1.45
9-12 $1.50
Adults $2.00
Sharon,
if a child lives further than 1.5 miles from the school, they do not pay for transportation. But if you live within that 1.5 mile radius, you have to pay those fees. We tried this with our daughter a couple years ago. Got thru the first month or so of school before the bus barn called & informed my wife that we live within the 1.5 mile radius & would need to pay the fee. We chose to go back to doing it ourselves.
Septboy–
The radius is 1 mile for HS students.
Humor for a moment, please: Charter School Proposal: MSTCS will also celebrate mathematically significant days such as Pi day and also introduce famous mathematicians to students on bulletin boards and permanent posters around the school.” I hope all of you see the humor in this sentence. Are you sure you would want your children hanging on bulletin boards?