Letter: Parents have role in school budget cuts

Where are all the parents?

Due to budget cuts, the Orland Unified School District board is considering making changes by increasing classrooms to 30 kids to one teacher in kindergarten through third grade. We are currently at 20 kids to one teacher. If you have spent any time in a classroom, you would know that it is hard enough for one teacher to supervise 20 kids, let alone try and teach them so they can actually learn something in an environment with many distractions (other students).

There are approximately 520 students enrolled at Mill Street School in 27 classrooms. At the board meeting, a lot of teachers were in attendance, (but) there were only about 10 parents. That’s 520 students – and 10 parents showed up at the meeting.

Some great things were said about the importance of keeping our younger classrooms smaller by both concerned parents and teachers, but we need to have more parents involved and show interest about their children’s education. Don’t leave it up to someone else. Show you want the best for your child and get involved.

If the classrooms are increased to 30 kids, we will lose one-third of the current teaching staff at Mill Street School alone. There will also be layoffs at Fairview at the third-grade level. These teachers are part of our community and have families of their own. If they lose their jobs, they may have to leave our community. We can’t let this happen. Support your child’s education and their teachers.

Parents, guardians, get involved with your child’s education. Ask your child’s teacher what you can do to retain the smaller classrooms.

Abbie Kurth

Orland