WALTER-JOHNSON CLUSTER TESTIMONY WJ, BCC & WHITMAN TRICLUSTER

Operating Budget FY2000

January 20, 1999

Before I begin, we want to say how please the Walter Johnson cluster is to finally see that our second middle school is underway. It has been a very long road to hoe to this point and we are grateful that the beginning is in sight for the opening next year. We want to ensure, however, that the additional operating costs associated with the new school do not effect the academic and special programs.

As you have heard from many other clusters, a primary concern within our three clusters is that reductions in class size continue until all classes in all grades reach a level that makes success for every student more possible. This year, fortunately, we are seeing the fruit of past labors and experiencing fewer classes containing more than thirty students at the middle and high school levels and more than 27 in the elementary levels. We praise your efforts and that of the School Board for making possible the reduction that has already been made. But that in no way means that it is acceptable for any classes to have more students than desks or more than 35 students, as is the case in some classes at each of our cluster's schools. Our student population in the Walter Johnson, Bethesda-Chevy Chase, and )Whitman clusters has such diverse needs. Those needs cannot be met in overcrowded classrooms with overwhelmed teachers. We know that reducing class sizes means teachers are better able to meet the needs of every student, and that our children thus have better chances of success in education. And a first-class educational system is one of the things that a County an exceptional place to raise children or conduct business.

The reading and math initiatives must be continued in an extended manner in order to make reduction in class sizes work. Where the Reading Initiative programs have been put in place in our elementary schools we hear that they have been quite successful. But in our three clusters, only one in seventeen elementary schools has the program in place. That is Rock Creek Forest. Obviously, the program is not currently fully funded and is not reaching all of our first and second-grade children. Our elementary schools are scrambling to try to put in place equivalent instruction, but they desperately need the teaching hours and materials so that our children will be ensured a successful and thorough grounding in the most basic building block of one's education - reading. And the demographers tell us that we have not yet reached a peak in our continuing enrollment expansion. It is simply fundamentally important that the Reading  however, is the second worst in the district at 3l7:1. This means that each of our counselors have responsibility for 36 more students than the maximum number set by MCPS. This is simply unsupportable and must be corrected immediately. Our counselors are overwhelmed and, cannot possibly give adequate attention to the needs of all their students. As just one example, when my son's counselor was out recuperating from a heart attack, it took two weeks for his substitute to return my phone call. By that time it was too late to resolve the problem for which we contacted him (a need to switch a class at the beginning of the school year). This has led to numerous academic problems throughout this year, which shouldn't have happened, and probably would not have if there had been an adequate number of counselors at Walter Johnson. The counselors cannot look out for the needs of the children. We most strongly urge you to find funding for an additional guidance position.

Thank you for your attention tonight. We hope that your decisions will reflect your commitment to maintain.