Lots of Sharks in the Sea - Especially at Budget Time...

This picture was part of a series I received via email a few weeks ago. Pretty amazing, and pretty scary. Sometimes when we're most focused on the big picture, we don't notice the sharks circling. I'm not sure how things turned out for this kayaker, but I'm guessing that if he decided to paddle, he did so with a different focus than he had before he noticed the shark.

In education, as in the ocean, the sharks are always there - we just don't always see them. However, just as is true in the ocean, when they make themselves known, they get our full attention.

It's budget time for us in Grosse Pointe, as it is for many districts. Like most people in Michigan, times are tough financially in school districts. We have to make some very tough decisions that require us to take our eye off the coastline we're attempting to reach and focus on what issues are lurking below the surface.

Over the past month or so, our district budget committee, which includes both high school principals, has worked diligently to craft a budget that will allow us to hold on to these critical programs and the people who are responsible for their success. In every case, we have tried to factor how a budgetary decision impacts our student body. District wide enrollment declines, paralleling the decline in our state, have reduced the funding we will receive. Our district will be laying off a frightening number of teachers and district employees.

A primary focus during the past couple of years has been closing the achievement gap. At North, we have a significant population of high achieving students, among the nation's best. We also have a group of students who struggle. Some of these students enter our school district having come from other districts, and begin far behind the students who have been here since elementary school. Some students have a variety of obstacles that have impeded their learning throughout their formative years. Others have disabilities or impairments that require them to learn differently or at a different pace than other students. Whatever the situation, it's our mission to provide every student what is needed to be successful. Reduced funding challenges that mission. Many of our most effective programs come with a cost. Additional teachers, classroom assistants or parapros provide the support to bridge gaps that exist for struggling learners. In other cases they provide the extra something that makes our highest achieveing programs special.

In the past couple of years, we have "restyled" our high schools to address the digital age in which our students live, and to focus on our achievement gap. This has resulted in new programs and technologies for all students, and in very effective supports for our struggling learners. Reductions in funding jeopardize our ability to impact as many students as possible with technologies, materials and supports necessary to succeed. The budget cut "shark" is lurking...

In coming weeks, I urge you to follow the budget process, and have your voice heard. At last night's board meeting, an initial presentation was made. The board is considering many options, as is our district budget team of administrators. For all involved, the primary concern is our greatest resource - people. We can't be paralyzed by fear of this "shark", and we can't let it take us off our course. Our mission in the budgeting process is to protect as many of our programs and people as possible in order to give our students the absolute best educational environment we can.

Please share your thoughts and ideas about what priorities you would like to see protected. Visit the district website at www.gpschools.org to review the presentation made to the board by our central office staff, and feel free to contact me or any member of our team for information or clarification. We'll do all we can to protect our building and district from the murky waters of the budgeting process...