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PIERCETON - To save more than $600,000, Whitko School Corp. plans to make cuts in personnel, including a proposal to cut physical education positions.
Monday, two teachers and a Whitko High School student pleaded with the Whitko Community School Corp. Board of School Trustees not to make the proposed cuts to P.E.
The school board will meet in special session, open to the public, at 7 p.m. April 29 at the administration office, Pierceton, on the proposed changes.
Tanya Gill, South Whitley Elementary School P.E. teacher, said she has been at Whitko for 17 years. She pleaded "for the lives of the students" not to make cuts to the P.E. program and she would be "sad for their loss" if the school board did.
Gill said it's been said the corporation is eliminating P.E., but keeping art and music because art and music takes a person with special skills to teach those classes. "I take offense at that," she said, as all teachers are required to have a bachelor's degree.
It's been said, she said, that classroom assistants will teach P.E. While they are good people, Gill said, she is not sure the school corporation should have them teach the classes at an assistant's wages.
Every day, Gill said, she strives to meet the physical and academic needs of the students. "The instructional period was used daily." State standards are being met through P.E. and students are being taught life skills.
She said she's read where the cuts being made to Whitko Schools are ones that "least" affect academics.
"It's a fact that P.E. programs have a direct effect on decreasing disruption in the classroom," she said. Also,, there's a correlation between P.E. and increasing math and reading skills. P.E. teaches students to work cooperatively with one another and it teaches students the importance of health.
"I ask you to please take a look at these issues and ask yourself if we are doing what's best for children," Gill said.
Jennifer Carr, WHS P.E. teacher, was notified her position will be cut under the current proposal.
"This is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do," she told the school board as she stood at the podium crying. The recommendation of eliminating P.E. at the elementary schools "is a big mistake," she said, as it provides students with the knowledge of skills, sportsmanship and teamwork. P.E. educates students on their health.
P.E. often goes unnoticed, Carr said, "but we are a major part of this school system."
She apologized for crying, but, "I cry about every day. I cry at home. I cry at school. I cry in front of students. I cry in front of staff. I cry in my car and I cry at school events."
Senior Stacy Socha said Carr has been a positive influence on her life, enriching it.
"Mrs. Carr is the type of person who brings out the best in everyone around her," she said. She "truly cares about students."
Socha said she has known Carr since grade eight. "In all my schooling, I've never encountered someone who loves to teach as much as Mrs. Carr."
If Whitko lets Carr go, Socha said the school "will lose one of the greatest teachers to ever walk the halls."
In other business, the school board:
• Heard the Pierceton Elementary School book fair is April 26 through May 1. The fair will be open in the evening April 27 for parents.
The next PES PTO meeting is May 3 at 3:15 p.m. in the teachers' lounge.
• Heard a presentation on the recent trip three teachers and three administrators took to New Orleans for the Association of Supervisors and Curriculum Development Conference.
• Approved the summer learning program as presented.
• Approved the school improvement days for 2004-05 school year.
• Heard the Indiana Department of Education waived two make-up days for the 2003-04 school year for WHS seniors to graduate May 28. Students still must attend school until that Friday.
• Heard Rick Stoddard will be at WHS Friday at 1:40 p.m. to speak about the dangers of smoking. Stoddard's brief ad on television is the one where he says his wife died at age 46 and he "didn't know 23 was middle age."
• Heard WHS graduate Michael Cooper will deliver a message May 6 to WHS students on the dangers of alcohol abuse and the dangers of drinking and driving.
