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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2008 > May > 04 > Entry
Who will sing the alma mater?
(Ted Murphy with music students at Thurgood Marshall High School)
Ted Murphy wrote an alma mater for the new Thurgood Marshall High School, but he had no one to sing it at graduation.
Last summer’s budget school district budget cuts decimated the arts at the school once known as Colonel White School for the Arts, wiping out choir there along with other arts programs across the district.
Murphy, an elementary schools music teacher for 22 of his 34 years in Dayton, hung on until the Thurgood Marshall assignment came just before summer’s end. Murphy was one of the last two music teachers in the district to get an assignment and Thurgood Marshall nearly opened with no art or music programs at all.
Last week, a consultant delivered a largely upbeat report on the district’s operations nearly a year after a devastating levy defeat brought $30 million in cuts. Linda Recio of Evergreen Solutions said the schools made great improvements over six years.
But since last summer, teachers say the cuts placed a great strain on instruction that some fear will harm the district’s run of test score gains.
At Thurgood Marshall, Murphy said the challenge of rebuilding the music program in a new building has made this the best year of his career.
Even so, the kids and the school have suffered.
Just two years ago, Superintendent Percy Mack invited Colonel White’s robust and energetic marching band to perform at his convocation speech, lauding a young director named Jamie Shelton for reviving a program that had dwindled to 12 kids.
But Shelton departed for Trotwood schools in the cuts and several of his students left the district to follow. This fall, the band was back down to about 20 kids, if you counted every dancer, drummer and flag waver. The school can’t even afford to buy them updated uniforms with its new colors.
“That’s where I am right now, starting all over again,” Murphy said. “It has really disgruntled my kids. It was a strong program and they saw it collapse around them.”
Still, Murphy is hopeful. He has begun tutoring a group of students in choral performance and for graduation, he said, someone will sing the alma mater.
Last year, Nancy Rutter’s class at Orville Wright Elementary School had music, art or gym for 45 minutes a day and several of her students took instrument lessons from the music teacher.
“This year, none of my sixth graders are in band,” she said. “The school had no concerts. All those things are gone.”
Instead, students take music, art and gym once a week each for 30 minutes. The school day is shorter and Rutter’s downtime is curtailed.
She no longer grades papers or holds phone conferences with parents during breaks. Rutter said she rarely even has time to even run to the rest room anymore.
“People are just exhausted,” she said.
Nina Ferrell, a teacher at Patterson Kennedy Elementary School, said a lack of planning time makes it harder for teachers to connect their lesson plans to state standards, which are tested on state exams. And it leaves less time for communication with students and their parents.
It’s also put many of her colleagues on edge.
“Even the younger teachers are affected,” she said. “They are stressed out, depressed and disouraged. They feel like they are not meeting the kids needs. If the levy doesn’t pass next time, it’s going to be even worse.”
A year ago this week, Dayton’s 15.17-mill levy was soundly defeated by voters prompting 428 layoffs, 208 teachers among them.
But teachers say the general public has not seen the worst cuts, as visible programs like arts faculty at Stivers School for the Arts, sports teams and high school busing were restored with outside funds.
A consultant’s report last week that gave good marks to much of the district’s management and education program left some teachers feeling that the classroom challenges they face daily have been obscured. They fear that the cuts could bring lower test scores this year and unhappy voters could defeat the next levy.
“The public needs to realize what is happening,” Ferrell said. “If I was a betting person, I would be my last dime that the scores will go down. It’s all these factors coming together. It affects the kids.”
It also affects the teachers. In March, teachers’ union president Pat Lynch told the board the cuts in planning time were running causing teachers to break down.
In fact, the district’s data shows teachers have been sick more often this school year. The average number of sick days used by teachers jumped from 6.4 in 2005-06 to 7.0 last year to a projected 7.9 this year. And long term illness of more than 20 consecutive days jumped to 67 so far this year from 50 and 62 the last two years.
“Teachers are going six straight hours with no breaks,” Lynch said. “They have no planning time so they are taking more work home. They’re tired.”
Tough working conditions probably explain why teachers were less enthusiastic about Superintendent Percy Mack’s leadership in surveys the consultant ordered, she said. While administrators rated Mack high — 97 percent in the central office and 100 percent of principals gave him top marks — only 60 percent of teachers rated him as well. Lynch said teachers might have rated Mack higher a year ago, before all the cuts.
A lot of top teachers are looking elsewhere, Ferrell said.
“If they can get out, they’re going to leave,” she said. And that is bad for the kids because they need people who are going to give 110 percent. A lot of people see no light at the end of the tunnel.”
At Orville Wright, Rutter said sixth graders need the creative outlet of music and art and the physical release of gym and recess. But now some days the only escape from the classroom is 30 minutes — 15 to eat lunch and 15 on the playground.
“There’s just so much more stress going on with them,” she said. “They need breaks from the classroom, from each other and from me.”
School board President Yvonne Isaacs said the cuts were the best way to limit the impact on the classroom and that it hurt board members to cut music, art and programs they had worked to build up. She said school leaders are listening to teacher concerns.
“There really was no easy way around this thing,” she said. “We know this is an issue this year and we have heard them loud and clear. We fully understand the impact this has had on the classroom.”
The goal of the consultant’s study was to find more ways to cut business operations to find money for the classroom, she said. But board members know a levy is needed. The study will help build the case for the November levy, Isaacs said.
“If this community wants a quality school district, we are going to need the community to stand up and help,” she said. “We fully understand the economic impact we are going through, but for the kinds of economic opportunities we want to attract to Dayton in the future we need to have an educated workforce.”
(Image credit: Ron Alvey, DDN)
Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment | Categories: Dayton Public Schools
Comments
By jacqueline sustik
May 29, 2008 1:09 PM | Link to this
I attended patterson kennedy in 1981 and I can tell you we never had 30 minutes to eat.Mrs.Rotterman if your still there,Thank you for being a wonderful teacher.By Will
May 19, 2008 2:54 PM | Link to this
It’s hard to believe DPS have fallen so much in seemingly so little time. I attended Dayton schools (at least in part) 9 out of my 13 grade school years and graduated from CW only 12 years ago, but this article makes it seem like it has been much longer than that. Not that DPS was in the best shape back then, but it seems to me that it got the job done for the most part. Now living in the St. Louis metro area, sadly, I can see the declining situation is much the same for many “urban”/public school systems across the country. I wish the best for you DPS, and I hope you are able to turn things around soon and quickly. P.S. I still am a little bitter that both my high and middle schools are closed/gone, but I guess it was just their time.By Avoice
May 6, 2008 7:43 PM | Link to this
Thank you Scott for taking the time to interview three DPS teachers. At least they were heard this school year in May. I guess that the real issue is where does the district go from here? This school system continually touts the principles of Baldridge. Included in these are visionary leadership and stakeholder focus. Well, it seems to me as though our visionary leaders are always using their vision to look for new employment. I guess Scott that you are in the same boat as teachers on this one. From James Williams, Percy Mack, Debra Brathwaite, Stacia Smith, Gail Littlejohn and others, we were told that they were sticking around to steer this ship through troubled waters. But then we find out via internal communication or the newspaper that this is not true. I wonder why they tell us one thing but do another? As to stakeholder focus I was under the impression that the stakeholders were students, parents and taxpayers. But when I see two board buildings, over-crowded classrooms, less than 61percent of yearly budget spent on instruction, teacher and program cuts I have to wonder who are we really focusing upon? Is it possible that we have all been fooled? Could it be that the real stakeholders have been self-serving people who care nothing for the kids in Dayton? Are these people really career-minded politicians that have been masquerading as educators? Too bad we can�t bring back some of these people to sing, I would love to hear that tune. The alma mater would be �We are in this to serve ourselves, not students and community.�By Cassandra
May 6, 2008 8:22 AM | Link to this
I think Mr Murphy’s positive attitude is a wonderful change of pace. In today’s society it is very hard to stay upbeat when the school systems seem to be losing ground. It is very important to keep the music and art programs alive and well because not all students are athletes. In some cases it takes more determinations by the music and art students to stay artistic because there are very little resources left available to them, unfortunatly that seems to be the first program to be cut which is extremely sad. In closing I hope Mr Murphy keeps his heart and love for the arts showing children to hang in there and hopefully we can make a difference.By teachermom
May 5, 2008 5:31 PM | Link to this
It’s nice to see that all is not lost with the Thurgood Marshall music program. I really enjoy Mr. Murphy’s enthusiasm and love for his subject. You can tell he loves his job and is extremely proud of his students. He invites everyone to come see the performances and updates everyone on the progress the children are making. Music programs often take a backseat to sports. I remember going years without old, outdated choir robes and car-pooling to competitions because my own high school choir had no bus, unlike the football team.People don’t realize the hard work and discipline it takes to learn and perform (music) either. I’m sure that this type of spirit we are seeing here will cause a revival in the DPS music programs. Keep your chin up !!By Scott Elliott
May 5, 2008 5:26 PM | Link to this
Just a note that I changed the reference to lunch being cut. It appears I misunderstood Rutter, who was not suggesting a cut in lunch but saying that short break is the only out of the classroom time for the students some days. Thanks for the clarifying comments by the teachers who posted about that.By Teacher
May 5, 2008 3:51 PM | Link to this
I think Ms. Rutter was misunderstood. I know Nancy personally and her students have never had more then 30 minutes. Like all children in Dayton they get 30 minutes total which includes restroom, eating, and playing. It is not enough time for the children or the teachers. By the time the teachers take them out, pick them up on time, use the restroom, heat up food (if necessary) make copies, make phone calls to parents and eat it is not enough time for anyone.By Laura
May 5, 2008 2:53 PM | Link to this
First, I have to ask Ms. Rutter how her students ever had more than 30 minutes for lunch? I have taught for nearly 30 years in DPS and never have my students (or I) had more than 30 minutes. I haven’t been at (or heard friends talk about) a school for years where the students even got 15 minutes of recess. Teachers I know will tell you by the time students are permitted to get their lunches, eat and get outside, if they have 5 minutes that is great. More often than not, k-8 students I know of get NO actual recess time. MOre often than not, teachers pick them up from the lunchroom to go right back to the classroom. And no, we can’t take them out for a recess ourselves. Not allowed. Most of us personally think it should be a law to allow students down time DURING the school day. Many principals now say that the students get out 15 minutes earlier- they can have their recess at home. That isn’t the point! As to Issacs’ comment that they heard the teachers complaints “loud and clear”, hearing is one thing, ignoring it is something else. I do not believe that the board members did not know exactly the kind of learning/working conditions that they were creating with their decisions. It was a matter of choices. The choices obviously were financially and personally driven and made without regard to the short or long-term educational consequences of the students.By Mary
May 5, 2008 7:41 AM | Link to this
Tha part of your report that really struck a chord with me is how the “more visible programs” get the community support. Meanwhile, the classroom experience, which is the heart and purpose of education institutions, gets screwed.