Thursday, May 13, 1999
Fairfield Schools to add teachers, expand alternative program
BY SUE KIESEWETTER
Enquirer Contributor
FAIRFIELD — When children in the Fairfield Schools return to classes in August, there will be 17 more teachers than when they leave for summer break next month.
Three of those positions will be to start an alternative-school program for grades 7 to 9, similar to the one already operating for students in grades 10 to 12 who are at risk of drop ping out, usually because of discipline problems.
Five of the 17 teachers will be assigned to the intermediate school to keep students out of study hall, and the other nine will be assigned as needed to cope with a growing student enrollment and more demand for classes at the senior high school.
The board approved the new positions last week over the objections of board members Ben Hubbard and Michael Oler, who voted to add all but the alternative-school positions.
It will cost the district about $850,000 to fund the 17 teaching positions and one central office supervisor for the 1999-2000 school year, said Stephen Maag, Fairfield Schools' treasurer, who presented the board figures on three staffing options for the upcoming school year.
“These kids don't fit in at the high school. They're kids who do not know how to con form and behave,” Mr. Hubbard said of the alternative school. “It's true we are removing a problem from the classroom. It's easier for administrators to put them at a remote site, but it does not serve education. It laughs in the face of education.”
Board member Anne Crone disagreed and said it was the board's responsibility to find a way to help all children in the district graduate.
“We're here to educate kids,” Mrs. Crone said. “If this is what it takes, it's what it takes. We have programs for the gifted. We have programs for children with learning dis-
abilities. We have programs for handicapped children.”
If not for the alternative school, board President Maurice Godsey said, three students he knows would have dropped out without a diploma.
The board has been studying staffing since a recommendation in February by building principals to add 75 positions over the next five years. To do so would have required increasing property taxes. Board members last month said they would not add more staff than what they could afford without first asking voters to approve a tax increase.
The district can afford to fund the new positions for one year, Mr. Maag said.
After that, voters will need to pass a levy or programs will have to be cut for the 2000-2001 school year.
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