letter to Schoolboard from Denfeld teacher

School board members, I’m writing in reaction to the news that administration has recommended eliminating elementary specialists in our district. I’m extremely disappointed and disheartened that this is even being considered. Our district is in the process of trying to restore trust within our parents and communities after the red plan has created so much controversy. Every piece of advertisement that the district has sent out to attract and recover parents over the past few years in an aggressive marketing campaign has featured the fact that our elementary students receive daily art, music, and physical education. Furthermore the last successful levy that our taxpayers approved and paid for and then later extended featured the fact those specialists would be in our buildings. I am the parent of an elementary student in our district and I can tell you the favorite part of my daughter’s day as well as her friends is the time they get to go to specialists to learn. Classroom teachers do not have the ability, expertise, or time to replicate what specialists give to our children. Along with free all day kindergarten it is one of the best selling points and marketing tools our elementary schools have. (Do you really think many parents/students get excited about the fact they get 90 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of writing per day?) There are so many proven studies out there linking movement, creativity, and sound to enhanced learning, yet as a district we continue to move toward a focus on teaching to testing. Children need to move, they need to be creative, and they need music in an elementary setting. Eliminating elementary specialists will lead to more students leaving our buildings and definitely discourage parents to choose our district over others that we compete with. It will also put the district under another wave of mistrust, as the public will again say we cannot be trusted based on all of the propaganda we've sent out. I don’t know where all funding comes and how different funds are diverted, but when speaking of the deficit and cuts staying away from classes why are facilities management positions, data coaches, integration specialists, and partial usage of the reserve fund not even mentioned in the conversation? Instead this round of suggested potential cuts in particular all seem aimed at what many of our kids in our district enjoy the most and that is wrong. (Elementary specialists, middle school athletics, middle school going from 7 to 6 periods, limiting hs schedule to 6 classes) I hope the district and board reconsiders this proposal as nearly every parent I've spoken to today, both in the school I teach at and outside of school, feel very strongly that this is the wrong path to go on.