Your Views | Do We Want Teachers or Janitors?

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 1 2009
By Mimi Carter

To the editor,


As the ACPS budget process moves towards a close, I am anxious to see what current School Board members propose adding, and cutting, in the 2010 ACPS budget.  It’s a tough economy, with property values and tax revenue continuing to fall, but the superintendent and his staff have done yeoman’s work.  

But I am still concerned at what I’m seeing.  Why are we cutting Latin at G.W. Middle School, three music education teachers system-wide, a Hammond world language teacher, science paraprofessionals at Cora Kelley and reducing science programs at Maury, Tucker and Ramsey BUT keeping 60 custodians “on staff” rather than converting them to private contractors?

I know I sound heartless, but custodians, as warm and as wonderful as they are, do not contribute to academic excellence. They are also not in the School Board’s new strategic plan.  In my view, teaching positions that have a direct impact on children should be the last thing we cut.
Superintendent Sherman wisely proposed converting janitorial staff to contracting positions in an effort to cut costs and better afford new initiatives.  All current custodians would have retained their jobs and the system would have saved $500,000 a year. Yet after a meeting with representatives of the labor community, the proposal was nixed.

We’re in a bind because about 85 percent of the ACPS budget is spent on staff salary and benefits. If we must reduce our labor costs, isn’t there a better way to do it than by eliminating teachers? 

As enrollment continues to increase, cuts in teaching positions seem unwise at best.  And this is bigger than just custodial staff. What about food service, grounds maintenance and transportation?  Would contracting these services help us better afford universal pre-K and the “exemplary academic program” promised for each school?

If I’m elected, I will launch a wholesale review of ACPS staffing and labor costs and assess how we can best address this issue. We’ll see what other districts have done to learn what’s worked and what has not.

If we are truly a community committed to academic excellence, we have some hard choices to make.  And for the sake of our children, we’ve got to get it right.

— Mimi Carter
Alexandria
Mimi Carter is a candidate for the Alexandria School Board in District A.  

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Reader Comments

mandrankin
12:16 p.m.
February 03, 2009

February 2, 2009

To the editor,

My name is Marvin Rankin and I have been a minister here in Alexandria for the past 16 years.
My three sons grew up through the Alexandria School System and for the most part, I have been pleased with the education they received.
I was surprised and dismayed at Mimi Carter’s article in the opinion section of your paper. Her statement that custodians, food service workers, grounds and transportation personnel “do not contribute to academic excellence” displays a lack of understanding concerning the holistic aspects of our children’s education. All of these people help provide a conducive environment for education! Many know the children by name and are part of the welcoming and friendly atmosphere in each school. Many of these workers have children and grandchildren in the school system and so have a personal stake in the quality of the entire program, including facilities and health! Sure, these services can be contracted out but I think the quality and personal touch would suffer greatly.
I find myself agreeing with Ms Carter’s confession to sounding “heartless”. Many of these employees of the school system have been with the system for many years. With the high cost of living here in Alexandria, many of these employees struggle to make ends meet. Even if they are retained by the contractors, their pay and benefits most surely will suffer. (Why do you think contract companies can offer their services for so much less than the system can do these services themselves?)
I certainly am not in favor of cutting teachers. I do have a problem with being willing to cut dedicated employees from the budget while retaining elitist classes like Latin for middle school!

Marvin Rankin
Alexandria

tangotangere
5:08 p.m.
February 03, 2009

As a Classics major and graduate of TC Williams and GWMS, I am really appalled at the news that Latin is being cut. Janitors may be nice and needy, but the duty of the schools is to the education of their students, and not the livelihood of their parents.

To the commenter who jibed that Latin is elitist, Latin is ONLY elitist when it is only available to the students in the rich private schools. When public schools offer languages like Latin they act as levelers, giving natively bright students the chance to do well and gain skills that allow them to compete with the rich kids over at Saint Stephens. ACPS is crippling its students with this decision.

ACPS should be investing in the EDUCATION of its students, in order to empower them to succeed in their studies, and maybe someday get a job that allows them to make ends meet without being subsidized by the city. Judging certain subjects as "elitist" and not worthy of being taught is a function of the kind of ignorance that the schools should be trying to combat.

kp
8:13 p.m.
September 14, 2009

Its clear, that in this modern era of challenges and competition, it would be for the betterment of the public to choose Teachers. Teacher inspire and accurately conduct the influence of ideas, critical thinking, strategic knowledge and many other fields of brain work.