Which are your favorite community suggestions?

I know, I know, it's been TOO LONG since I last posted (how does she expect to GAIN A READERSHIP when she won't even KEEP UP WITH HER BLOG ENTRIES??  BLOGGING 101, PEOPLE!  Sorry? I've been meaning to?  I'll work on it?  It was Easter?  The dog ate it?  Sorry again, we don't have a dog?)

Alright, stop getting me off track, back to the topic at hand: Mike MacNaughton of dfpe.org (Dallas Friends of Public Education) has a fascinating post on his blog. A space is provided for citizens to comment on what they would trim in DISD were they in charge and presented with the budget cuts we are sure to be swallowing soon.  He put the comments into a pages long chart for anyone who clicks to see (Citizen Feedback pdf through April 20).

I am heartened overall with not only the number of people who responded, but with most of what they had to say.  From parents to teachers to students, I was reminded how many we have in this fight and how much we can accomplish when we come together.  I hope the school district trustees are listening and weighing in on these voices.  Though we can't directly dictate how much money the state will come through with (but please people, remember at least until voting in the next election!!), we can participate in the process.  Then, regardless of what happens, at least we won't feel like loser slugs for sitting by quietly waiting for it to happen to us.

So.  Here are a few of the suggestions I thought most interesting.  (CAVEAT: I am paraphrasing for sure, and some of these suggestions came from more than one person; to see the exact document scroll up and click link above.) 

In no particular order:

1.)  Get rid of required off-campus staff days.  Instead offer online courses for professional development that would be a requirement for the teacher to finish sometime during the year but on their own timetable.

2.) Get rid of bilingual, or get rid of it sooner: teach to the ESL students' potential; streamline into regular classes earlier.

3.)  Eliminate the Alternative Certification Program.  (Umm...if we're firing teachers, why are we paying to train new people to get certified?)

4.) Several suggestions for Magnets: instead of cutting a disproportionate amount of magnet teachers, require a magnet school yearly fee per student of a few hundred dollars; students not going to their home school (in other words, magnet kids) must provide their own transportation.

5.)  Students who must take summer school pay for the cost of it.  

6.)  Make parking at sporting events for pay.

7.)  Superintendents and non-campus administration: apply a 5-10% salary reduction across the board before any teaching positions are considered.

8.)  Get rid of all the super "extras"--drivers, cell phones, gas, etc.

9.)  Eliminate assistant principals except from schools with over a to be determined number of students.

10.) "Do we really need 15 football coaches for one high school?" (could this be true, you think, or is it hyperbole??)

11.) Each campus is in charge of own school mowing/landscape.

12.)  Greatly reduce busing (a certain number of students per bus would be needed in order for it to be deemed necessary).

13.) Align DISD graduation requirements with that of the state.  (This apparently makes a P.E. class and a couple other classes unnecessary.)

14.)  Eliminate 12th grade.  Some suggested this--dropping senior year-- along with keeping Pre-K.

15.)  No off-site specialists.

16.) Go green.  This includes the disposable lunch plates/trays.

17.)  Many people noted how many trays FULL of food were thrown away at the end of every lunch.  Have kids "order" in the morning so that the waste wouldn't be so enormous.  Others suggested they go back to the better tasting obviously bad for you food options so kids might actually eat it!)

18.)  Cut on "Fat Cats"--any salary over 300+ is reduced by a certain percent.

19.)  Salaries over 100K re-evaluated.

20.)  Create a salary "cap" for supers/administrators.

21.)  Lots of suggestions to lengthen the school day but make it Monday-Thursday.

22.)  Separate furlough days for administrative staff (maybe they have just a M-Th week?)

23.)  Change the retirement benefits.

24.)  Each administrator and superintendent is required to sub at least one day of school per year.  (I love this one.)

25.)  Staff new schools with displaced teachers.

26.) This one I found especially interesting: a teacher suggested that some sort of campus incentive should be created for NOT spending all of the money in the campus budget.  Apparently each year around March and April, there's a mad dash to spend all the money (use it or lose it) so it is not spent wisely.  The teacher suggested that as long as academic levels indicated positive growth, the campuses should be allowed to preserve some funds by carrying over a percentage, perhaps to a capped level.

27.)  One TAG parent lamented how hard his daughter had worked over the last three years, wanting to finish with top honors at the #1 school in America.   "One would think that the leaders of one of the worst school systems in America would have moved heaven and earth to preserve the FEW schools in which we could take pride." There is much dissension as to whether the magnet schools should take such a hard hit, or, as this parent suggests, should be kept in place as models for all of the district to aspire to.  

So what do you think?  Any you hate or deem implausible?  I would LOVE to hear which ones you like, which ones are bunk, or whatever in between.  Remember, my dear sweet shy and oh so gentle reader, all you have to do to follow this blog is click "Follow" just on the right there.  See?  And if you're reading this, you probably think something, right?--so why not tell me about it?