A fellow voter asked why the defeated Madison High School new gym and renovation plan had more classrooms than current faculty. Incredulous, I went to count.
The Madison High School website lists 27 teachers. The master plan for renovating and adding on to the building includes 35 classrooms on the high school side of the complex.
Include the gym (which we all know is a physical education classroom, not a showcase arena for a few star athletes) and adjoining classroom, and we get 37 classrooms.
I got good Bulldog math instruction from Messrs. DeCurtins, Hamlin, Larson, Winterton, and Austin, but I'm having trouble balancing this equation. Hiring more high school staff to fill those rooms doesn't seem to be on the horizon. South Dakota is seeing a surge in student numbers, but the numbers on current first-grade enrollment don't show Madison sharing in that growth.
Now maybe I've missed a couple things. The wood shop is necessarily idle while the shop teacher holds forth in the auto shop. Maybe special ed uses a couple other rooms. Cool. What about the other seven rooms? Are we building extra space so we can bring the Mundt Debate Tournament back to Madison? (If so, awesome! I'll run it!)
The school board signaled last week that we will see another vote on essentially the same bond issue. So let's ask now: why are we promoting a building plan that, at current staffing levels, would leave perhaps one out of four classrooms idle at any given time?
Cory,
I had no idea that MHS gave up on the Mundt tournament. My heart broke as I read your previous posts and reader responses on the topic.
What a travesty. I can say without hesitation that a certain former MHS principal (and former Phy Ed teacher) who unfailingly supported the arts along with athletics would never have let this happen. I'm left to wonder what will become of these activities when their defenders retire. This year alone, the likes of Doc Miller, Gail Means, and Denny Germann are leaving education.
Local leadership across the country (not just in education, but in other areas like law enforcement and city planning) has become gutless and risk-averse. I have an idea -- instead of hiring so-called "leaders" and "consultants," why don't we just run a spreadsheet and see what falls off the bottom of the list. It's the same decision-making process.
I can forgive the federal government for being stale and ineffective. But locals are supposed to be creative, dynamic, and innovative.
I guess it's just too hard, so we should give up.
(with apologies to those who spoke in defense of the tournament....)
Someone told me enrollment today is half of what it was when the school was built. That doesn't sound believable, but it would be interesting to know how much the numbers have changed, for not just utilization, but community demographics. Does anyone know? In 1982 the graduating class was about 125.
MHS class of 1966 had, I do believe, 128 graduates.
Joseph G Thompson
Class of 1975 had 175 Graduates. Largest class to ever graduate from MHS. The high school used to carry class sizes of around 140 to 150 in the 2000's, with around 650 students in the HS and the classes are around 100 students now with declining enrollment. That trend is changing as birth rates are growing which will fill the grade school, Middle School and within 10-15 years, also fill up the HS again. Pierre also sees this trend statewide of increasing birth rates, the number of which funds our schools. Wonder why Governor Daugaard is proposing cuts to education? He's invited Pam Homan, Sioux Falls Supt, to visit him in Pierre. Isn't that like putting on your makeup after you went on the date?
http://www.argusleader.com/article/20110123/NEWS/101230311/S-D-student-population-boom-way
You're right, Phil: giving up the Mundt Tournament was a travesty. The school district has failed to show commitment to some important priorities.
The population growth article: that's where I got that spreadsheet. There is a student boom (or at least a boomlet?) coming, but the data behind that article don't show Madison sharing in that growth, at least not with the current crop of first-graders. Lake County has not recovered the population it lost after the Great Depression. Our youth population is lower than the state average, and our elderly population is higher. (I guess someone needs to get to work makin' babies! Phil, Julie, move back! :-) )