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addressed through flexible schedules for teachers.
When this is done correctly, teachers love it because of the [work hours] flexibility. And students love it, too. Let’s say I’m a student and I’m taking an AP [advanced placement] class. I can do it because I have someone to tutor me if I need it. No longer do I have to worry about who is going to help me. One of the things you will find nationwide is that students are taking more AP courses. But
Eight more city schools will have longer school days next year. FILE PHOTO
school in Massachusetts. They surveyed the staff’s and students’ interests. A number of kids wanted to learn more about karate, and there was a teacher there who knew martial arts. So that teacher started a club at the school. What I’m trying to say is that we are trying to create a more middle class-like school. But our students need more time and support. I could take you to a school in Mendon or the school where I used to work in Greece. And what you will find are kids getting ready to put on a winter musical, just like they do at School of the Arts. But at Northeast College Prep, we’re not there yet. But if you survey those kids, some of them will tell you that they would love to be engaged in a similar thing. But if you don’t have a band or a voice class, how are you going to put on a musical? So you need to look at the entire offering of resources available in each city school. That’s what we’re engaged in right now, seeing if we can redirect our resources. You’ve talked a lot about increasing art, music, and sports in city schools. But some people argue that the focus should be on core academics.
I was at Monroe High School the other day and met a group of kids. They said they were going to lunch. Now as an adult, I’m thinking “9:30 in the morning, and you’re going to lunch?” 10 City DECEMBER 5-11, 2012
Then I met a group of adults and I asked, “Isn’t it a little early in the school day to be going to lunch?” And they told me, “No, lunch is served at 9:45. The students go home at 1 p.m.” That’s the district we have today. Now here I am talking to them about expanding the school day. But you have kids along with parents and the rest of the community who have grown up in this system, and they’ve gotten used to something Paul Speranza, Wegmans’ vice chair. PHOTO PROVIDED that doesn’t make sense. I wish it was as easy as turning a switch and I could say, “Now we are going do things in urban America, the support for students differently.” But it’s going to have to be a hasn’t been there. We’ve done great in signing trajectory over time. kids up for AP courses, but anyone can do What we’re trying for our students is that. The question is: are we helping them what any middle-class school does for its achieve? And we believe that achievement students with art, music, and sports. It’s will come with the support. a given. It comes naturally. I’ve done the research and there’s hardly a school in It’s been reported that a problem with the suburbs throughout the county that expanded hours at Northeast College Prep doesn’t have art and music. is that students aren’t staying. You’re trying You’ve said that some of the labor issues involved with expanded hours can be
to mobilize support for them, but they’re not even there.
That’s true. But let’s say you’re 16 or 17 and
you’re used to leaving school at a certain time and hanging out. Are we going to change that tomorrow? No, but we believe it can be done. Students at School 9, which also has extended hours, are staying. And at Northeast College Prep, we believe about 75 percent of the students are staying longer. You’re recommending closing at least five schools. And you’re also projecting a budget gap of about $33 million for next year. Do you plan to cut teachers?
We’re looking at everything, but we’re in the very early stage. We’re looking first at what we need [in terms of teachers] for implementation of the common core curriculum. How much is that going to cost us? And if we want to add art, music, sports, and other types of extracurricular activities, what do we need for that? The budget gap was projected at $33 million, but that was before the pension increase came up. Teacher retirement costs are increasing by more than 37 percent next year. Potentially our gap could be $44 million. We were projecting receiving a 3 percent increase from the state, [but] that was before Hurricane Sandy. A lot of resources may have to go down to the New York City region, so state resources may fall as a result. And now we have to be more cautious. You dipped into the reserve last year, so that’s less of an option, right?
Actually, our reserve fund is solid, but the reserve fund is meant for emergency situations. Last year, we used it because we wanted to bring more stability to the district. And we didn’t want to put the district through two consecutive years of disruption. We’re looking at all of our resources, including our contracts with outside agencies. One of our highest priorities has been to provide more support for students. But the question is: how are we going to do that? We have to spend our dollars differently. One way to do that was to look at what we were paying outside providers [for tutoring services] because it was very expensive, and rather ineffective and inefficient. We are now serving more students than ever before through our [inside] tutoring services. I took a lot of heat for that. But the amount of dollars we used to pay to outside tutoring is a classic example of how, if we establish