Posted on Sat, Mar 23, 2013 : 3:23 p.m.
Dexter High School school board discusses setting minimum enrollment for classes
By Cole Bertsos
In an effort to trim down the budget for the 2013-14 school year, the Dexter High School finance committee decided during a Friday morning meeting that they may try to cut class that don't draw a minimum number of students, according to a story on the Dexter Leader.
The board has yet to decide what the minimum number of students per class and the idea still is in early stages of discussion, the Leader reported.
Joe Romeo, a computer science teacher at the school, told the Leader he believes there still will be some classes that don't meet enrollment guidelines but are necessary to keep.
The committee's next meeting is at 8 a.m. on April 22.
Comments
SemperFi
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 : 11:59 a.m.
I, too, agree that the IB program is a mistake and should be tossed out. As others have said, it is duplicative of the WISD program, it is ridiculously more costly than running a top-quality AP program, and services far fewer students than the AP program.
Mackinac Straits
Wed, Mar 27, 2013 : 1:21 a.m.
Great idea, start with a minimum enrollment for the costly and duplicative IB program. To justify the expense, I would suggest 100% of the student population, eliminating the duplication and somehow making it all worthwhile. Since that will never happen, I would also suggest the Board simply end their fiscal fiasco now.
queenie
Sun, Mar 24, 2013 : 2:49 a.m.
This is a standard practice in most high schools already.....
heresmine
Sat, Mar 23, 2013 : 11:17 p.m.
I'm surprised this wasn't the plan years ago.
Shawn Letwin
Sat, Mar 23, 2013 : 9:27 p.m.
Glad to see Dexter starting to address their fiscal issues. I would say that Dexter is going to need to do a little more than "trim down the budget" as this article states. It was also just released this week that -the district faces a 2 million dollar deficit this year, -expects to have no reserves in 2 years, and -has had to postpone the selection of a new Superintendent because the pool of candidates submitted by the consultant (Michigan Leadership Institute) did not pass muster of the board. Marshall turned in her resignation late October and still Dexter is trying to find candidate who can be successful in Dexter. I had hoped that things would go smoother this time. It is the 3rd time that Larry Cobler, board President and Michael Wilmot of MLI have conducted a search for Dexter Superintendent in the last 6 years. Hope springs eternal. Anyway, Lundy had stated that although class size minimums may provide some relief. The nickel and dime savings that may result from such a measure should be looked at later. I agree with Lundy. Drop the duplicate IB program. The IB program which is a duplicate of the Washtenaw consortium IB program, had over 1 million in new program costs last year, will have about 1 million in new program costs this year and just under 1/2 million new program costs next year. A lot of money for servicing less than 1-2% of the total Dexter high school population. It was also a real shocker learning that the deficit for this year had increased over 800k from when the budget was first adopted in June 2012 and the re-adopted just 4 months later in November 2012. Good luck to the board. The tornado may be gone and the repairs on that disaster nearly finished, but Dexter has a new disaster to address. Continue to appreciate the press coverage on this issue by AnnArbor.com.
arborani
Sat, Mar 23, 2013 : 8:49 p.m.
Didn't even notice until now - this was written by a Copy Editor.
arborani
Sat, Mar 23, 2013 : 8:47 p.m.
Edit, oh please. "class that don't"? Last time I checked, subject is supposed to agree with verb - ???