Greene Residents for Excellence in Education Now (GREEN) meeting of October 28, 2004

Supt. Ray Dingledine's presentation was based on the following seven questions. The remaining three were added as a result of emails received prior to the meeting:

1. How is the administration planning to deal with the overcrowded situation at the middle and high schools?

2. Have you looked at other alternatives in addition to the school expansion project? What kinds of studies have been done?

3. The county seems to be growing faster than some have anticipated. How can you assure us that the school expansion project will continue to meet our schools' needs in five years? And when does the School Board anticipate a new middle school will be needed?

4. How can we be sure that the $8 million price tag is necessary for the school expansion project?

5. How can we be assured that the county is meeting the schools' needs when staff (including special ed and support staff) who leave are not always replaced, when students do not have enough textbooks to go around, and when teachers tell us that they have to rely on PTA fundraisers to get needed materials and supplies?

6. How can we be assured that there will be consistency in structure and planning across grade levels and schools? What are we doing to ensure there is overall coordination of curriculum development and implementation?

7. Please address how the administration and school board are planning to work with the board of supervisors to ensure that board members have a better understanding of the funding that is essential to keep our schools running well. And how can we work with you?

8. How do you plan to handle the overcrowding at the elementary schools? It appears that RES is close to needing modular type buildings.

9. With the tight budget how can we be assured students are getting the attention they need from the appropriate amount of staff? What is an optimal classroom size and where do you set the bar before deciding to add another teacher?

10. Along the same lines, we have heard that reading scores are going down at the middle school level and that as the size of a class is reduced, the number of teachers per team is reduced. This usually means that the teacher specializing in reading is let go, and other teachers are asked to take on a reading class. Some of the teachers who have been asked to take on reading may not be prepared or as knowledgeable in the area of reading. This could impact SOL scores, and certainly it impacts how children are taught. How can we address this concern?