Improving student-counselor ratios at all levels of education is the number one priority for the Excellence Committee, according to a report the committee presented to the Board of Trustees during the March 14 meeting. The Excellence Committee is a group of 55 members that includes high school students, parents, community members, teachers, site administrators and district office staff that formed in October 2005 with the task of researching and identifying policies, programs and practices that would enhance the school district, without being limited by financial constraints. The concept was to find out what the district needs to do to make the schools even better, put a price tag on it and then find a way to fund it, instead of the usual practice of being given a budget and then finding what can fit within that budget.
“Our job is to hit the goals we prioritize, which can be hard in California” said Trustee Pat Kernan. “Without question, we can raise the bar and hit more kids. We don’t want to be behind Piedmont, we want to lead the way.”
The report presented 22 recommendations, listed in order of priority, along with suggested action plans on how to make the change and an estimated cost. To improve the student-counselor ratio the committee recommended adding full-time counselors at every school level, putting one full-time counselor at every elementary school and three at every middle school while adding enough counselors at the comprehensive high schools to make the ratio 300:1 and 250:1 at the alternative high school. Making this a reality would cost approximately $1.28 million, according to the report. Second on the list was increasing technology support at a cost of $440,000, followed by class reduction for $3.68 million and adding visual and performing arts teachers for $1.2 million. Other items on the list included providing wireless access throughout all of the middle and high school facilities, adding elementary school science specialists, funding on-going technology upgrades and adding world language teachers at the elementary schools.
Although the trustees were supportive of the report there were questions about whether each recommendation was addressing problems in the most cost-effective manner. Trustee Kris Weaver pointed out that many of the suggested improvements involved hiring credentialed teachers, where the role could possibly be filled by volunteers or by expanding programs already established in the community. She also noted that facility expansion was not included in the report, something that would most likely be necessary for items such as class size reduction.
“I want to make sure we look at this at every angle, because if we go forward to ask the community for money, we’re going to have to make decisions,” Weaver said. “We have to see if there are different ways to do this to save money.”
Board President Steve Pulido agreed that before the district pursues the possibility of presenting the community with a bond or a parcel tax, there would need to be a lot more specifics about how the money will be spent and show that it is the best use of those funds.
“One reason Measure B was so successful was because we had a clear presentation to the community about how the money would be spent,” he said, referring to the bond that voters passed in March 2004 that provided funding for the building of additional school facilities.
Superintendent John Casey said the district is also hoping that corporations or individuals in the community would be interested in either funding or finding ways to raise funds for specific items.
The Excellence Committee’s next step is to present its recommendations to the wider community through presentations at PTA/PFA meetings, school sites and with community organizations. After receiving community feedback, the committee will make a final priority list to present to the board. The board members will then decide which, if any, of the items on the priority list they would like to implement and how to go about finding funding.
“This won’t collect dust on our shelves,” said Trustee Gloria Fredette of the report. “I’m looking forward to the next steps.”
