There has been talk all year from the Beeman/Plum Cove community about the terrible overcrowding issues that these schools face. They are in a tough
situation with the huge influx of students this school year. They don't have enough classrooms, playground space, janitorial staff, etc. etc. Meanwhile,
the school slated to close, Fuller, is operating at about 1/3 of its capacity, has a huge cafeteria, full size gym, and immense field/playground space that are
totally underutilized.
Is this absolutely insane, or is it just me. They should have known how many students were going to be redistricted from Fuller to the other schools. They
should have known that crowding would be an issue based on the finite number of classrooms citywide. With a little planning, they could have had all 4th AND
5th graders at Fuller for the year while they figure out what to do next, and these crowding problems would be nonexistent. The building is open anyway,
offering virtually no cost savings. We are going to close Fuller just to save $250k a year, and put modulars at all of the other schools in the city, at a
debt cost that won't be made up by the Fuller building savings for what, 15 years? The idea of small learning communities is great in theory, but it seems
we don't have the resources or the space to implement such a plan. What are the chances that the new modular classrooms will be here for the start of the
next school year? Are we going to need another plan like the Fuller 5th one that was used this year? Sorry to ramble on and on, would love to hear any
thoughts on these issues...
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0 Kudo
City Schools
| Author | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 Sigurdr |
City Schools |
Lead | |
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(03/20/08 12:24 PM) |
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 AreWeThereYet |
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(03/20/08 12:42 PM) |
I agree 100% with your comments Sigurdr, but it doesn't seem that the school committee is listening or has the balls to question CK's pet
reorganization plan which was flawed from the get-go. Neighborhood schools are a great idea, but no one cares to speak about how the Fuller community lost
their neighborhood school and were strewn around the city with no regard to their needs. It's disgusting.
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macpac |
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(03/20/08 12:55 PM) |
This whole mess keeps getting bigger and bigger. The whole reorganization plan made no sense from the beginning and parents from every school spoke against it.
It wasn't thought out when they pushed it through and they are finding more and more reasons why it is not going to work. I too feel bad for Beeman/Plum
Cove families with their over crowding problems, but I feel worse for the Fuller families who were displaced by this nightmare.
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globalwarmer07 |
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(03/20/08 01:10 PM) |
It is now so crowded at Beeman that they are going to close the circle at drop-off & pick up. Now kids as young as 5 will have to walk all the way down to
Cherry (where cars will line the busy street) or through the woods to Washington Street. Totally dangerous. Why not have the busses on Cherry Street and the
paraprofessionals (or whatever SE Hogan calls them) can walk them down en masse to their bus.
BTW macpac. Plum Cove families were also displaced. Some of the Kindergarten kids that came over did not have even one person in their class that was from Plum Cove. It was a tough start for a lot of the 1st & 2nd Graders. Yet West Parish & East Parish cruise along with most everything status quo. I have sort of washed my hands of it all and just accepted the massive cluster F*** |
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Bobby Dinero |
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(03/20/08 01:23 PM) |
I think you'll see more and more parents trying to get the kiddies into Rockport and enrolling them in private schools despite the cost factors. Our
schools are right on par with the rest of the city. A disgrace.
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o Realist o |
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(03/20/08 01:48 PM) |
Willy? Waiting for the bomb...
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Old Gloucester |
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(03/20/08 01:59 PM) |
this is what happens when the east gloucester elite-pope, bell, normand, even kirk-get involved in social engineering. they wanted to close fuller to eliminate
the poor mcas scores of the "inner city" and disperse them into the schools that had better scores. they thought the scores overall average would go
up. were there any additions to the east gloucester school?
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OKCorral.abettercapeanno... |
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(03/20/08 02:19 PM) |
Old Gloucester wrote: Ward 1 for years have been running things into the ground. Way to go ward 1
"I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride, I'm wanted dead or alive"
BON JOVI |
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globalwarmer07 |
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(03/20/08 02:22 PM) |
It was my understanding...and it could have changed after the school year started....was that there were no additions to EG or WP. I do know that some kids
from Beeman went back to Plum Cove after the start of the year. We were told that was not an option and then heard of some kids going back. Not sure what the
criteria was. Rockport is full, as is Manchester.
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tyu12 |
city schools | ||
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(03/20/08 02:26 PM) |
they wanted to close fuller to eliminate the poor mcas scores of the "inner city" and disperse them into the schools that had better scores. they
thought the scores overall average would go up. were there any additions to the east gloucester school?
what will happen when other schools start having poor mcas scores will those schools also be closed? Then what?
Last Edited By: tyu12
03/20/08 02:29 PM.
Edited 1 times.
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NightStalker |
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(03/20/08 02:35 PM) |
the cry for more money, more money, more money
"All of this could be yours... just give me what I want and nobody gets hurt"
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Old Gloucester |
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(03/20/08 02:43 PM) |
they thought that the neighborhood schools scores would come down, but not as much, so the average would go up. we'll find out.
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Willard J Clinton |
The Day of Reckoning Approaches | ||
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(03/20/08 02:53 PM) |
This is what happens when you replace the professionals we used to have running our schools with a greedy, corrupt,
and incompetent union. Fourty years ago we provided a quality education to 4000 students a year with a staff of about 300, yet the GTA-MTA monopoly that crooked politicians have installed here can't even do it with a staff of 700. Couple that with that the
explosion in pay and exorbitantly priced cushy benefits their stooges in city hall have saddled the taxpayers with, as well as the insane giveaway of pension
eligibility after only 14 years, is it any wonder that the rest of the city is being slowly dismantled and sold off to satiate these racketeers?!?
When the fire stations are gone, the Fuller has been sold to Park at a fire sale price to offset a small fraction of the disgraceful $50 million dollar pension liability these crooked baboons have run up, and the taxpayers are broke, where will the $$$$$$ come from when the GTA-MTA swindlers and their City Hall stooges demand even more?!? |
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Y DEVELOP |
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(03/20/08 03:32 PM) |
It is now so crowded at Beeman that they are going to close the circle at drop-off & pick up.I love the parade of SUV's picking up and dropping off children like fast-food. Wah, wah, wah! Hey Global, for $4000 a year you expect to get education for 3+ kids. COme on baby do the math you are getting $$$ on the cheap at the expense of your childrens future. Try private school if you really care. |
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globalwarmer07 |
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(03/20/08 04:03 PM) |
Don't forget the overly subsidized health care for life!
With no additional $$ coming from the corrupt administrations throughout the country, we are in trouble. Nobody wants a tax increase, so we'll watch the potholes grow, the schools burst at the seams, the violent crime rate raise enormously, and the City fall further into scuzziness. Gloucester has faced huge increases in PROGRAMS & SERVICES for the schools. Required resources have been stretched so thin. At risk kids are going to have less of a chance in this school district. Then you add in the cost of having 75% of families on free lunch, then there are the before school free breakfasts, the extra busses needed to pick up Pathways kids, (One bus stops on the way to Plum Cove about 1/8 of a mile from the school), and the extra ESL teachers required to keep up with the enrollment of more families. We simply cannot afford it. Then everyone votes against the override....what do we expect to happen? Personally, I thought it would get better this year. Dispersing the Fuller kids was supposed to direct more special ed funding to the smaller schools. It obviously hasn't. Mark my words, next year, you will pay for school busses. The next year, you will pay for all-day kindergarten. Its only a matter of time. Other communities have been paying for those things forever. Why not us? I am off now to put on my body armor to prepare for being called a racist, an elitist, ignorant, unrealistic, blah-blah-blah, etc. Which I am most certainly not. Just looking at the simple math. |
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globalwarmer07 |
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(03/20/08 04:13 PM) |
No SUV here Y!
...And my kids take the bus. Y...FOR ONCE I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU. We need more money for the schools. It has to come from somewhere. But we shot down the override. Unfortunately, the disadvantage of living on an island and having to work is the issue of getting your kids to & from Danvers, Peabody, or wherever you choose to send them. And for the record. School starts at 8:20 and many of these kids ride busses that pick them up at 7:30. If I were in a situation like that, I would drive them too. They ride around for 30 minutes and then spend 20 in the playground? Hell, thats almost an extra hour they could be sleeping, reading, finishing their breakfast. |
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Y DEVELOP |
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(03/20/08 04:20 PM) |
Global the public schools are failing for a miriad of reasons. Willy blames it on the unions and that argument has some validity. Others blame the special
children hording resources and they have a point, others believe more money would solve all the problems and they have a point. Some even believe it is
Bush's fault for mandating changes but NOT FUNDING them. But at the end of the day they are failing. Children are sponges and if certain things aren't
learned at a young age they spend a lifetime of catching up. Stop beating your head against a wall and school choice or go private the teaching machine is
broken.
Fortunately, it's only our democracy that depends on a well educated citizenry. |
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globalwarmer07 |
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(03/20/08 04:36 PM) |
Good post Y. I am not sure which reason I think is the biggest offender. I was a huge supporter of No Child Left Behind... but without proper funding, it has
probably been the single biggest resource expense. But then I think that if I needed the services being offered to 'at risk' kids...why do I care if it
is funded or not? BTW, its not just "special " kids. Its offered to ANY kid not meeting the grade level standard. Some may not have ANY learning
issues at all. It could be maturity, focus, homework habits, at home assistance. Personally, I think it is a great service. BUT...it costs a ton of money.
Beeman had to add those big trailers just to accommodate their reading program. Wonder what the home school community is like on Cape Ann. I overheard someone at the grocery say it was over 100 kids strong. That is a pretty big number. Anyone know anything about that group. |
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OKCorral.abettercapeanno... |
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(03/20/08 04:47 PM) |
They are smarter that any one coming out of this school system.
"I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride, I'm wanted dead or alive"
BON JOVI |
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Sigurdr |
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(03/20/08 05:00 PM) |
global, where did you get your 'simple math' figure that 75% of students are on free lunch? Free/reduced lunch is a federal program that provides free/reduced lunch and breakfast for low income families (who meet a certain income threshold based on number of children). The MA Department of Ed. website lists Gloucester students at 26.2% low income, so the free lunch program is less than 30% of students if all who qualify take advantage, and I am not sure that costs the city much money, if any, since it is actually funded. How many 'extra' ESL teachers are in the employ of the city? I doubt that it's a significant portion of the budget. The special ed program that was concentrated at Fuller (and very well run while there) is now at every school, and the special ed teachers are spread too thin to deal with it all. On top of that, there is one teacher for the behavior kids, and he covers the entire city. People accuse you of being racist/elitist/etc. because you often come across that way in your posts with your views on immigrants, non-english speakers, and the hundreds of people you know who are scamming the welfare, mass health and free lunch system. Perhaps all those extra ESL teachers can 'learn' some of those people to speak 'american'. |
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globalwarmer07 |
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(03/20/08 05:18 PM) |
Sig. The numbers on the lunches were presented at the meeting we went to last April regarding what the options were going to be in the fall. They talked to how
many extra ESL teachers they would need when the students were spread throughout the City. They even had little fancy Power Points to view with nice little pie
charts. The numbers were there. The special ed/subsidations were almost 35% of the entire school budget. That is significant.
I do not intend to come across to be so harsh on people. I just have a lot of passion for the topic and want something to change. I will not pretend not to be of the mindset that this is America. Learn the language, speak the language, be productive, take pride in your country, try to be a good citizen. That is what your ancestors did! I would bet on it. |
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