Desert Sands to Issue Teacher Layoff Notices
Desert Sands Unified School District will issue 82 layoff notices to teachers in classes K through 12 to balance their budget.
Parents and teachers packed the school board Tuesday tonight, many worried about possible cuts to teacher and pre-school and what that means to the children.
Parents brought signs that said children who attend preschool are more likely to graduate.
Students and parents brought their pleas for education to the meeting.
"It upset me a bit because eduation is a really strong point for kids especially around four or five years old, they can go into preschool, or any type of program and they can learn a lot and it prepares them for what they will be learning later on," said Luis Sosa, whose son goes to Jackson preschool.
A school counselor took the podium and said increasing classrooms sizes makes teachers become babysitters, "You're not only cutting teacher's jobs, but you are increasing the average real classroom sizes between 42 and 50 kids per teacher. This is no longer real teaching and learning, but truly is nothing more than glorified babysitting."
The teacher's association president, Mona Davidson, sayid bigger classroom sizes means less student/teacher interaction.
"It's really difficult for teacher's to make the connections that they need to make with students, which all statistics prove that kids aren't test scores, they are connections, they remember the connections they make with a teacher, they don't remember a score on the test," said Davidson.
The president said almost all the teacher's on the layoff list last year got their jobs back or found other jobs.
"We're hoping depending on the number of people who are retiring that this number is going to go down, she works very hard to bring people back as quickly as she can," said Davidson.
Still, many people, even students, worry what more cuts will mean to education.
"State preschool should remain open to educate the youth of America, and prepare them for their elementary years," said Indio High School sophomore, Victor Gomez.
California Teacher's Association is endorsing Governor Brown's tax initiative, hoping that means less cuts to public education.





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