I apologize if I was not clear. I agree with you that we need to get parents to care. The bottom line is that we cannot make them care. The district does have Skyward but it is an avenue for parents to see grades not specific academic content or grade clarification. What I mean is that as parents we need to know about curriculum changes that affect our children and that is not what currently happens. I cannot teach my child common core standards if the district doesn't tell me that is what is being tested. As for Sylvan, I am not proposing that we spend more money for that service because we need the money for education programs. What I am saying is that the program is not offered to all students who need it. It is only offered to those students of low income. A possible answer, would be to look for more grant funding for those services or perhaps enlist high school students to tutor elementary students as part of community service hours for the National Honor Society.
Just because a student is at high risk does not mean they are special ed, it just means that for some reason, that are at risk for not understanding the material as well as the rest of the students in the class. Additionally, content is often presented very quickly in some classes and some students fall behind, therefore making them high risk for understanding that content
As for safety, some of our elementary schools do not have persons posted at the doors that the students enter. Those that do, don't always stop grown ups. This is a problem. All grown ups should report and enter through the main doors and report directly to the office. I agree that this is not the case for the middle schools and the high schools.
Your final questions are tough and as a voter, you deserve an honest answer. To fix this economic mess will not be easy. The board will need to work closely with the newly appointed Director of Finance to reevaluate and review the district budget. I think we need to look for grant funding as well. Would I vote for layoffs? NO. I believe that for now, eliminating jobs through attrition is the best answer. This is also something that will need to be reevaluated constantly. To answer your question about allowing a strike before giving raises, has no good answer. A strike is never in the best interest of our children but making a decision has to be based upon the current contract negotiations. I believe that every effort needs to be made to avoid a strike. I would prefer to not cut any programs or academics, but if I was forced to choose, I would cut athletics over academics. That is certainly not an easy answer since a case can be made why both are important. The bottom line is that this is school and they are here to be educated so they can hopefully be successful young men and women. I realize that this may not be the popular answer since often students can go to college on athletic scholarships, however, they will always need academics.