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Escambia School District Pushes For ‘Yes’ On Amendment 8
October 22, 2010
With less than two weeks to go before the November 2 general election, the Escambia County School District is trying to convince voters to support Amendment 8 that would give school district with flexibility in managing class sizes.
“The strict requirements of the class size amendments will create obstacles for parents, teachers, principals and leaders in Escambia County Schools every year unless Floridians vote for Amendment 8,” said Escambia County Superintendent Malcolm Thomas at a Thursday morning press conference at Pensacola High School. “By supporting Amendment 8, voters can provide our schools with flexibility while still maintaining small class sizes.”
Enrollment in Escambia County schools has decreased by 3,200 students since 2003, but district official said the county has added 489 teachers during the period in an effort to meet the class size requirements that would be relaxed under Amendment 8. The district has used co-teachers, canceled certain classes, and placed elective subject area teachers in core classes.
Joining Escambia County Schools Superintendent Malcolm Thomas at Thursday’s press conference was Susan Story, CEO of Gulf Power and a member of the Florida Board of Education.
“Amendment 8 keeps classroom sizes small and gives schools more flexibility to make sure students are not turned away from courses because a class is full,” Story said. “Just like businesses need more flexibility in today’s global markets, our schools must have more flexibility to prepare students for the workforce. The bottom line is Amendment 8 is good for students.”
In 2002, voters passed a constitutional amendment that capped individual classrooms at 18 students in kindergarten through third grade, 22 in fourth through eighth grade, and 25 in high school. The limits have been phased in since the amendment was passed, with the hard numerical caps going into effect this year.
Amendment 8 on the November 2 ballot would repeal those hard class size caps, allowing class size caps to be calculated at a school-wide average, rather than on a per-classroom basis.
Comments
12 Responses to “Escambia School District Pushes For ‘Yes’ On Amendment 8”
What are you voting for? To add students to the class size. 18 for Elementary through 3rd grade, 22 for 4th grade through 9th grade, and 25 in High school does not seem unreasonable to me.
Please vote NO or you will give ECSB the option of adding students to classrooms rather than hire teachers.
I’m beginning to sound like a broken record. PLEASE vote NO on amendment 8. Our children deserve the best education they can get and it will not happen when more children are put in rooms with only one teacher. Also, they are expected to do well on FCAT so they won’t be penalized for low grades. ECSB should be ashamed of themselves for supporting 8. They just lost my vote when they are up for reelection. ECSB should be doing all they can to help the schools, that’s their job. Our children are the future of our country and should have the best education possible. Cut the money from somewhere else, leave the schools alone.
Even if Adm #8 passed what good would it do,adding more students to the class,cutting teachers jobs, and saving a pile of money. our taxes would not go down anyway, the School Leadership would be able to spend more money on trips and unneeded crap because they can. If the School/County had to answer to the people Instead of themselves we could get something done.Ive been to board meetings,no matter what is said the LEADERS still do what they want.
wonder if this cockeyed amendment that theyre trying to pass off on we “dumb” voters was initiated, in part, by the NEA …..im already suspect of ANY union activity these days.
Please vote no on Amendment 8. There are too many students in some classes and the teachers have to suffice with this unfortunate circumstance. Imagine having 30 plus kindergarten students in a class without an aide…there would not be enough time to work in small groups with all the children which will result in students not getting the education they need to succeed.
These people at ECSB need to go find other jobs. They’ve had 8 years to accomplish this task and the truth is they just don’t want to, and they don’t care what citizens vote for and they clearly don’t support the notion of public education. In my book, that makes them all unqualified for the government jobs and benefits they collect.
You could reduce the class size to 10 and it will not help. Parents need to do more to help educate their children such as helping them w/ their home work and being more involved with their education. Teachers need to quit passing the buck and start teaching. Make leaning more fun and quit teaching F-Cat. Some parents do good w/ their children, most don’t. We need to have a higher standard for our children. We have let them run the show long enough. Most parents have failed in raising their children and have taken the easy way out of being a parent. This new generation is a bunch of babies and most will never be any kind of leaders, everything has all ways been done for them by us and our gereration wanting better for our children have made America the dumbest country in the world. We can change this but we need to wake and get on the right page w/ educating the new generation w/ respect. and honor. We need to take the COOL out of being DUMB!!!
Let’s see, we don’t like what we passed so lets revote. Next year we will not want what we voted for so lets revote. Am I repeating myself? Am I repeating myself? Am I repeating myself?
I just don’t understand what the big deal about class size is anyway
My classes from kindergarten upward always had between 27-32 students. And that’s with one teacher and no aide or helper. My high school chemistry honors class even had a whopping 47 students. Again, no help even on lab days. It’s not that big of a deal.
Any parent should vote NO ion admendment #8. This is trying to repeal the class size admendment that was passed by voters several years ago. You can be certain that if this passes you children will be in a larger class. VOTE NO ON ADMENDMENT 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dont forget about the funding that is being taken away from the schools if that passes
“Amendment 8 keeps classroom sizes small and gives schools more flexibility to make sure students are not turned away from courses because a class is full”
Isnt this backwards? Shouldn’t we want class sizes to have limits to keep them small, and if they have too many students then they should hire more teachers for the same class?
If you keep adding students to a class without size limits, of course they will pack them full and fire the teachers