Students First!?!

Teacher Don Grillo has a letter in the current issue of the Piscataquis Observer which raises some interesting questions. If you haven't seen the letter yet, you'll find a copy of it here. [Click on the image of the letter to bring it up to readable size.]

He says the level of teaching staff, and their level of expertise in social studies, is inadequate for the present eighth grade and that this situation is planned to continue for next year as well, despite being told last spring that this would be a temporary situation for this (present) year only.

School budgets, so the conventional wisdom goes, are largely staff salaries and benefits. So budgets, be they proposed, adopted, or turned down, on one level -- an important level -- are all about staffing.

In this realm, the important question is "How does this decision affect students?" After all, it's all about the kids....right? So, it really begs the question of how the superintendent's decision to eliminate the social studies teaching position is in the students' best interest.

Unless the Superintendent and Board are implying that somehow students do better with less exposure to specialized teachers, how can this be rationalized when compared to 10 percent increases in the administration accounts?

It's all part of the new "student first" philosophy here, I guess.

Must be you're supposed to TAKE from students first!