I took a deep breath and readied myself to share the bad news with my 3rd-grade students. . . I began by briefly explaining how a districtwide budget works. I likened it to the budget a family might have, comparing each person in the family’s needs to each MPS school and its needs. I emphasized that sometimes there is not enough money to take care of every need that deserves to be taken care of. Many students shared something about their own family and the need for money:
- I used to take ballet lessons, and I know I still deserve to have ballet lessons. But my family doesn’t have enough money now, so I can’t have my ballet lessons.
- Sometimes I get my clothes at Goodwill because my mom says they are cheaper since the clothes aren’t new.
- We don’t have a car, but my dad says if he can work more hours at his job, maybe we could have enough money for a car.
One way our school would be different next year, I explained, is that we would have more students in each classroom.
But how will we learn if there are so many students in our classes? How will our teachers be able to help us?
If I raise my hand, I hope the teacher will see it because it sounds like there will be a lot more hands in my class next year.
I also told the students that because of the cuts, next year our school would not have a librarian.
What! How are we going to check out books?
But how am I going to have books in English and Spanish to read at home?
What’s going to happen to all those books in the library?
The students literally gasped when I said that Ms. Sue, our art teacher, who has taught my students art since K4 and who has been at our school for 10 years, would not be back next year due to the budget cuts.
Who will help us learn about paint and clay and making bird feeders so the birds can have food in winter?. . .