Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/2868
“Where would they and their children be without our program? These young children we are serving today are the future of this dis- trict.” “The program is going to be evaluated in January,” says Barnes with a shudder. “It’s easy to look at these young children as somebody else’s problem, but they are the future.” Folsom Cordova Cordova High School closed its career center after cutting one and a half counsel- ing positions and eliminating a classified po- sition from the department. The career cen- ter, located in the library, was turned into a storage room. “It’s a real loss,” says counselor Nikka school library. “Last year we could go in and look at AP and SAT study books any time we wanted to, or use the Internet, printers and coin-operat- ed copy machines for class projects,” says Ra- shika Rakibullah, a senior. “Clubs met there, and it was easy to find resources when we had to do research for school projects, either as a group or as individuals.” “I never thought the library would close,” says Ryan Thomas, who as a senior feels for- tunate he was able to use it for three out of four years. “It’s something I figured would al- ways be here for students.” The district’s child development program lost its school liaison due to budget cuts, and may very well be on the chopping block if the downward budget spiral continues. The program is located on nine campuses and cares for the children of parenting teens as well as low-income community members, and provides support for students who are about to become parents. High school stu- dents also work in the program for school credit and use the facilities as laboratories to study child development. “We supported over 250 pregnant and parenting teens last year,” says Debby Barnes, an ETA member and program coordinator. Right: Librarian Julie Pratico stands before the barred-up library at Evergreen Valley High in San Jose. Top: Spanish instructor Kennya Valle at North High School. 22 California Educator | november 2008 Vaughan-Strivers, who was laid off last spring and then rehired just before school began. “We used to have enough counselors to meet one on one with every senior. And the clerk who ran the career center took stu- dents on field trips to different college cam- puses, helped them with scholarships and recruited people from different colleges to do presentations on the campus.” The school’s five remaining counselors, all members of the Folsom Cordova Educa- tion Association, do their best to take up the slack, says Vaughan-Strivers. “We’ve built our own mini-career center and are making binders of different scholarships for students to look at.” “We’ve had to revamp the way we’re of- fering services to students,” says longtime counselor Cindy Evans. “We are trying to make more group presentations. We are en- couraging students to use the website to find information about scholarships and about applying to different colleges. We know a number of students don’t have computers, so we take them into the library to use comput- ers there. We are trying to pick up the pieces and to be there for the kids. But it’s not the type of personal attention they are used to getting.” The Folsom Cordova Unified School Dis- trict cut 57 positions this year when $6 mil- lion was slashed from the budget, including four high school and middle school counsel- ors, plus teachers and classified employees. As a result, the district’s elementary school libraries have been closed and class size has increased from 20 to 33 students in third- grade classrooms. “It’s frustrating not to be able to give them the attention we want to give them each day,” says third-grade teacher Bob Winford. “There’s a tremendous reduction in the amount of one-on-one time for students. Oftentimes, the quiet students get over- looked. A small percentage of students wind up eating up much of a teacher’s time. I now spend a significant amount of my day put- ting out fires.” There has been talk of eliminating class size reduction next year in the second grade. “We have the highest standards for students and the lowest funding,” says Winford. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense.”