SCHOOL BOARD ON COST-PER-PUPIL AS DISTRICT OPPOSITION MOBILIZES

by Michael Monks 

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THE RIVER CITY NEWS MORE COVINGTON NEWS THAN ANY OTHER SOURCE

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EXCLUSIVE

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Vocal critics of Covington Independent Public Schools often cite the above-average cost-per-pupil within the district and its the lack of corresponding academic improvements. That criticism was first addressed by the district more than a week ago with the launch of a new interactive website that aims to explain how CIPS's budget works and where the money comes from and where it goes. It was also addressed at Thursday night's meeting of the Covington School Board while just blocks away a new citizens group called Fix Covington Schools was planning its next steps.

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Bill Grein, the district's assessment coordinator, explained that Covington's cost-per-pupil is high because of the additional state and federal money given to CIPS based on its low-income population and its high enrollment of students with special needs. "We have the only SIF (school improvement fund) grant in the country, $200,000 over three years," Greine said. "That gets added in. A math grant, a read to achieve grant, those are all added in."

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"We have to quit using this as an excuse for not having those kids succeed," argued board member Denise Varney. "Where is this per pupil money going? We just gave the teachers a one-percent raise and that was hard enough." Superintendent Lynda Jackson explained that the district still offers amenities now lost at many other schools like insuring that student athletes do not have to pay to play sports or for their warm-up uniforms and that when teams travel, the costs are absorbed by the district. And, "We have psychologists in about every school, school nurses," Jackson said. "We do have a lot of support staff because we have a lot of need."

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Grein, the former principal of Holmes High School, added that there are other costs the district takes on to aid the learning experience and to keep control of behavior in the schools, such as having three counselors at Holmes. "It would be great if these counselors were only working on college and career planning," he said. "They have two hundred kids moving in, two hundred kids moving out during the year. We have kids trying to meet their basic needs." CIPS's student population is the most impoverished in the state of Kentucky with the highest percentage of homeless children and kids that receive free or reduced lunch.

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"(But the spending) ultimately needs to affect student achievement," Varney continued. "Historically, we haven't done that. We can't keep saying 'they're transient, they're homeless'. These kids can learn. What is going to make these eighty-eight-percent free lunch kids learn? You got people moving out to Scott and Woodland to get out of Covington."

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As Grein was about to offer further explanation, starting with how the district has restructured the high school, board member Glenda Huff stopped the conversation. "There are some things (Varney) said that I agree with and some things (Varney) said that I don't agree with but we're not going to accomplish this tonight," Huff said. "This is something to schedule for a retreat and I think we should move on."

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Board chairman Mike Fitzgerald concurred. "(The critics) should bring forth a suggestion," Fitzgerald said. "As long as there are people out there with nothing constructive to say, they're just flapping their jaws."

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Meanwhile, those very critics were meeting at the exact same time just blocks away from the Board of Education building. Fix Covington Schools is the working title of a grassroots organization that materialized following several months of debate in online forums, including The River City News Facebook page. School Board member Krista Powers left the school board meeting early to attend. Covington City Commissioner Sherry Carran and philanthropist Oakley Farris were also present. One of the group's organizers, Everett Dameron, a former candidate for Covington school board emailed The River City News to say that there was "lots of good discussion" and that the group of seventeen people "left with the charge to spread the word".

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OTHER NOTES FROM THE SCHOOL BOARD MEETING

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• CIPS intends to enter into a partnership with the Carnegie Visual & Performing Arts Center for music and art instruction. The program, which would start in the 2012-13 academic year, would provide supplemental instruction for 35 weeks at the district's five elementary schools. The Carnegie would provide contracted teachers that would visit each school twice a week, once for music and once for visual art. The schools' media specialists would then expand upon the lessons. "I've been upset that we haven't been able to provide art and music teachers," Jackson said. "It's something we're missing in our elementary schools." The cost to the district wold be $60,000 annually.
• The School Board honored the state champion 8th grade boys basketball team, the middle school wrestling team, the graduates of the adult high school, and the teacher, staff member, and volunteers of the month. For the photo gallery, click here.