The Belvidere Education Association would like to clarify a few misleading items in District 100’s recent press release from Thursday afternoon. The district claims that it agreed to limit lab class size, lowering those classes to their fixed 24 stations; however, they also countered by introducing language that wasn’t in their best and final offer. These items include: - Increasing study hall limits from 20 to 25 students in high schools - Raising class limits for P.E. to 35 students - Raising total-student limits for performance classes (i.e. band and choir) to approximately 180 Why does the BEA have issues with these new language items? 1) We fear that the increase in class size for study halls will be used to house students removed from science lab classes when they are lowered from 30 to 24. We cannot agree to any language change that would deprive students of educational opportunities, and these proposed changes could possibly remove students from valuable, necessary science classes and place them into study halls, simply to avoid paying for extra sections of science courses. 2) Currently, the maximum number of students for any secondary teacher is 150; if they have more students, they earn overload pay for an extra section of class, with a maximum of 180 students. The proposed class size changes in P.E. and Fine Arts performance classes would raise maximum capacity to 175 in PE and approximately 180 in performance classes; however, the district does not want to compensate these teachers for the extra student workload. This would create unfair working conditions and would be directly in opposition to one of our main goals of creating a district that attracts and retains quality educators. Employees who are equitably compensated are more likely to put down roots, perfect their craft, and invest in our community. The BEA acknowledges that fiscal responsibility is the districts duty, and that these issues are really about the money it costs to implement them. However, the district has $30 million dollars saved in the general education fund - which is designated to pay for our students educational needs. At what point does fiscal responsibility turn destructive and deprive our children of the educational environment that they deserve? We have the money to pay for the necessary changes to create class sections and compensate teachers fairly, and the BEA will continue to bargain to make sure Belvidere schools are an educationally sound environment for our children. Our next bargaining session is Tuesday, October 14. Join the BEA at Central Office for a rally to support our bargaining team.
Posted on: Sun, 12 Oct 2014 03:48:52 +0000
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