She may not be as fortunate next year — not because she doesn’t have the acting chops, but because the school district may have to cut theater arts and other extracurricular activities.
School officials say they will have to do away with programs to make ends meet if voters reject a proposed 6-cent tax rate hike this November.
BISD officials say the tax rate increase is needed to keep programs alive and fund much-needed pay raises for faculty and staff.
BISD Superintendent Dr. John Hardwick Jr. said if voters reject the tax rate increase, the school district will not be able to give faculty and staff a 3 percent pay raise needed to keep up with the cost of living.
Additionally, he said, the pay increase is needed to help the school district remain competitive with other school districts.
Also, if the proposal fails at the poll, BISD may have to consider cutting all non-core courses, such as language arts, math, science and social studies, that are mandated by the state.
Non-core courses include all extracurricular activities such as the football program, choir, band and drama.
He said he did not want to discuss which programs would be cut.
“When you start talking about cutting programs, you’re talking about cutting positions,” he explained. “When you start talking about cutting specific positions, then you’re putting names to programs and that’s a touchy subject.”
Voters will decide the matter on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
The Bee County Chamber of Commerce is urging its 350 members to oppose the 6-cent tax rate increase proposed by Beeville public schools.
The Chamber says the school district has not done a good enough job educating kids, as is evidenced by the district’s poor performance on the federal accountability rating.
“Due to the low performance of both of our secondary schools, it is the Chamber’s position to not support the proposed 6-cent tax rate increase for Beeville ISD on the Nov. 4 ballot,” Chamber President Pam Priour Stuart said in a news release issued to chamber members last week. “We encourage the business community to vote ‘no’ on that ballot item.”
Chamber board Chairman Karl Arnst also was quoted in the Saturday’s edition as blaming poor performance of the two schools for the Chamber’s stance.
“These students are the future of this community, and we, as the business people here, have to hold ourselves, and the rest of the community, accountable for the quality of our schools,” he said. “The schools in Pettus ISD met the fundamental federal performance standards, some in Beeville ISD did not. I think the Chamber is simply thinking like the business people in that they are in rewarding performance.”
Chamber member Dennis Clark also cites the poor performance of the two campuses as a good reason to oppose the tax rate increase.
“As a member of the Chamber of Commerce and the Public Affairs committee, I salute the chamber board of directors for not supporting the proposed 6-cent tax rate increase for the Beeville ISD and for supporting the Pettus ISD 8-cent tax rate increase,” he said in a letter to the editor published in this edition. “Why did this happen? In my opinion, the chamber board decided to support the Pettus ISD proposed tax increase because of testing performance that exceeded the state average. In fact, both the Pettus ISD and Skidmore ISD have scored above the state testing average in most class subjects while the Beeville schools are consistently below average in most class subjects.”
One educator questioned how the Chamber can claim it supports teachers and yet opposes pay raises for teachers.
“I would like an explanation from the members of the board on how they can applaud me in one sentence and then say in the next line that they do not support me!” BISD teacher Sheri Bolland asked in a letter to the editor included in Saturday’s edition.
Some Beeville teachers have threatened to boycott Chamber merchants that support the Chamber’s position on the tax rate hike.
Chamber member Jessy T. Garza said Tuesday he is unapologetic in regards to the Chamber’s stance.
He not only reiterated the campuses’ poor performance on the federal accountability system, but also cites the district’s poor TAKS test scores as a reason to oppose the tax rate hike.
He provided a copy of the school district’s scores on the Texas Assessment of Skills and Knowledge for the past four years.
According to the information he provided, of the BISD students who took the TAKS exam in 2006, on the science portion: 49 percent of BISD fifth-graders passed; 58 percent of eight-graders passed; 41 percent of 10th-graders passed; and 66 percent of 11th-graders passed.
The scores were equally dismal in 2007 and 2008, according to the information provided by Garza.
Math scores were also low those years.
According to the study, 60 percent of sixth-graders who took the math portion of the TAKS exam in 2005 passed. Likewise, 48 percent of seventh-graders, 49 percent of eighth-graders, 54 percent of ninth-graders, and 51 percent of 10th-graders passed the math portion of the exam that year.
Math scores in 2006, 2007 and 2008 also were well below the passing mark.
“Once students are out of elementary school, once they are in middle school or junior high school, their TAKS test scores plummet,” he said. “The TAKS test scores for Beeville ISD are atrocious. The Chamber has a moral duty to stand up and say enough is enough, things must improve.”
He said TAKS test scores among Hispanics and other minority students in BISD are even worse than their Anglo counterparts.
Getting back to what I really want to say… let me try and help Mimic (and anyone else who might share his/her views) to understand the importance of athletics and how it goes hand in hand with the learning process. First of all, can you imagine a city without athletics and football in particular? I can’t think of any communities in our area for sure or our state that this is true of. Why would Beeville want to set a precedence in our area and become a "Bill Gates School"? I would personally never send my kids to one of those schools because they'd be missing out. School districts obviously understand the importance of extracurricular otherwise they wouldn’t budget for it in their districts.
Athletics teaches more than just competition…it teaches teamwork (being able to get along with those around you and working towards a common goal). It teaches discipline (doing the right things all the time even when you don’t feel like it…mental toughness and physical toughness). It teaches you perseverance (that we can’t give up just because things aren’t going our way…that we have to work harder). It teaches you that hard work does pay off…that if you want something bad enough you can achieve it. It teaches you about goal setting…you have to have a vision or a plan in order to get where you want to go. It teaches you how to deal with defeat…that it’s ok to lose but only if you have given your all in the losing effort. Losing makes you appreciate winning that much more. Our society is based upon winning…sometimes your life , as well as others around you, might depend on it…just ask our brave soldiers oversees. Sometimes your family depends on you “winning” that job or “winning “that promotion. I could go on and on about the many intangibles that are taught in athletics…these just can’t be taught in the classroom.
I feel insulted by your insinuation that coaches are not good teachers. I have been a teacher/coach for 24 years and have always been very fortunate to be a part of excellent coaching staffs. Beeville ISD teacher/coaches are no exception…they do an excellent job in the classroom as well as in their coaching endeavors. We have excellent teaching staffs in all of our fine schools in Beeville. I challenge you to ask any student, teacher or administrator on the quality of teacher/coach BISD hires. It is true, like with everything else, there is always room for improvement. You are either getting better or getting worse and that’s true of any profession. There are laws that dictate we hire “highly qualified teachers” and I can assure you that all of our coaches fit that description.
Since you specifically mention and target football players let me try to help you understand the type of the student/football athlete we have in Beeville. For the 1st six weeks our HS failure rate was 15 out 123 or 12% with 7 of those being freshman athletes. I will break this down further and mention that our JH football failure rate was 15 of 141 or 11%. This failure rate is by no means acceptable but by the same token this illustrates that our young student/athletes are working hard to achieve in both the academics and the extracurricular. I will mention that this year we have 16 of 38 student/athletes that will be named to the District 30-4A All-Academic Football Team. (Last year we had 15 young men that received this honor and that was tops in our district.)
You mention that “…it’s about playing particular players to increase their stats to make them more competitive for athletic scholarships”…well for your information our kids don’t sacrifice their time and bodies for the sake of scholarships…they do this for the love of the game and for the life long lessons derived from participation and competition. (We currently have 3 student/athlete football players playing at the next level at non –scholarship schools.)
The Beeville All-Sports Boosters does a lot to help supplement all of our athletic programs and our student/athletes. Some examples are: running the “out back” at football games, gym concessions as well as softball/baseball concessions. They also provide scholarships to eligible seniors, painting of the football field, putting out the spirit flags, and of course purchasing some much needed equipment. I welcome you to join our boosters and be a part of the solution.
Not all teachers hired in Beeville are asked to coach. When an opening occurs we go throught the hiring process and the best qualified is hired. No one is forced to coach and no retaliation occurs. All of our coaches are in this because they are competitive and love teaching our kids about sports. Coaches and teachers don't do this for the money...they do it because of the burning desire and passion we have in wanting to help make a difference.
Does our community care about football? Of course it does…it cares about all sports and the many extracurricular activities that occur every day along with the many other programs that our kids are involved in. This is what every community is suppose to do…support it’s students because they are the future.
In closing let me add that I would welcome you or any one else to come and visit with me. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have about our athletic programs or anything else for that matter. I am proud to be in this wonderful profession we call “Education”.
Chris Soza
Athletic Director/Head Football
IDEA Public Schools not Bright Ideas Schools
http://www.ideapublicschools.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?pid=191&srcid=219
Maybe, our school district should drop athletics and keep the teachers. Or have intramurals instead of athletics. Our school district loses great teachers so there are spots for medicore ones that will coach. (I'm not saying ALL coaches are horrible teachers.)
I understand that football admission brings in money to the school district. But it makes a political process that much more political. What a trade off: a winning football team for far less than satisfactory test scores. Way to go administrators!
There are several Bill Gates High Schools in the state of Texas they are called Bright Ideas Schools. Guess what their focus is - academics! Guess who they hire - teachers who are highly qualified !
If Beeville scores persist they should settle for intramurals. Anyway, football isn't about the student athletes. It's about playing particular players to increase their stats to make them more competitive for football scholarships. It's about money. (I know..I know..this isn't breaking news!)
Money for both parties. It's not a program to serve many...so why continually dish out district school money to fund it? Sports boosters don't fund it all.
Why would good teachers stay or even come to Beeville? They are treating poorly. They are going to be asked how many sports can they coach? Would they be willing to coach? If the answer is "no" and they get hired anyways it's because it is late in the summer and the position must be filled. Then they are retaliated against while getting in someone who knows someone. School politics contribute to low TAKS scores.
So what are we telling the community? That we care about football??? And oh by the way, can you vote for this tax rate hike? Would kind of reply did you expect.
THAT LIVES IN GEORGE WEST, COME ON DO YOU REALLY CARE!!!!!!!!!! OUR TEACHERS TRY AND TEACH OUR KIDS THE BEST THEY CAN, BUT SOME CHOOSE NOT TO LEARN AND NOT TO CARE, THEN WE HAVE OUR STUDENTS THAT TRY SO HARD TO PASS AND HAVE GOOD GOALS TO HAVE BETTER LIVES AND YOU ALL WANT TO PUNISH THOSE KIDS, BY NOT PASSING THE 6 CENTS RAISE, THEN THERE WE START LOSING OUR TEACHERS AND PROGRAMS THAT THE TEACHERS AND KIDS ARE INVOLVED IN. THE KIDS ARE THE ONES THAT ARE GOING TO LOSE OUT, BECAUSE IF IT WASNT FOR THE CHILDREN OF BEEVILLE NONE OF US WOULD HAVE JOBS