These cuts could very well make Coventry schools lose NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges) accreditation, making it harder for graduating students to get into college. This leaves many students and parents worried about the future.
Recently, the Coventry school committee came to a budget agreement, which resulted in 43 Coventry teachers being sent home, wondering what’s next for them. According to the Coventry Courier, these cuts come after the school committee’s $1.8M request got shut down by the town manager. This leaves many teachers without a job for the upcoming school year.
“Our state funding has gone down,” Coventry Superintendent Craig Levis said.
Last year, the state cut $500,000 from Coventry schools, and this year, another $400,000 is expected to be cut. Based on recent data, the Rhode Island median family income was $74,045 in 2015, and Coventry’s median income was $88,556, which is 19.6 percent over the state as a whole. This data leads the state to believe that Coventry has the ability to pay for our schools, which is why the state funding was cut down.
Many people have asked if there is any other way to help the budget issues without having to let go of teachers. One popular opinion throughout the school is cutting some sports and after school activities.
“Anything is possible,” Levis said when asked about the possibility of sports being cut. Though it is an option, the Superintendent does not think highly of the idea of cutting sports as it would “make the community mad”.
Craig Levis went on to add that there has been more to the problem than just financial issues.
“The problem we’ve had in Coventry is leadership”, said Levis. “Change is good. Change is needed.”
These cuts could very well make Coventry schools lose NEASC (New England Association of Schools and Colleges) accreditation, making it harder for graduating students to get into college. This leaves many students and parents worried about the future.
The big issue students are worrying about is class size, and the class level students will be put in. With the decrease of teachers, many classes will have the maximum number of students in it, leading to kids being forced into honors classes that they are not ready for. Many students and even teachers are against the rise of students per class. Not only will it affect teachers and students, but even the town itself.
“Class sizes will go up and have a big impact on students,” Coventry High School Spanish teacher Mr. Streeter said. “We need to be paid more if the class size goes over 28 students.”
Required by law, teachers must be paid a higher salary if the class size exceeds 28 students. As of now, it is looking like there is a good chance of this happening.
“Students won’t get as much one on one help like they should,” Coventry sophomore Bethany Noonan said when asked how the class size will affect her and other students. “Students won’t understand as much”.
The Coventry school committee wants to see people taking higher classes, even if recent grades show that they are not ready for those higher classes. Kids that would normally be in CP classes, could be moved up to honors classes, or even AP classes.
“Each student has their own learning ability. You can’t just put students who should be in an honors class with lower level kids,” Coventry High School student Nina Fortier said, adding that it will be “harder for the students to focus” due to the number of kids in each classroom.
Students and parents in the Coventry district have thought about the possibility of transferring to another school if things continue to hurt the town’s education.
Craig Levis thinks that people “get the wrong info” about what is happening and “believe what they want to believe.” “It’s almost like it doesn’t matter what I say” Levis added, “People don’t believe me.”
The Superintendent went on to state that more people need to get involved.
Many teachers that have been let go have already gone on to look for new jobs. In a job fair on June 4th, teachers lined up to bid on positions that are open. Some teachers walked out with a new job, while some walked out with nothing.
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