Fernbank Supporters Address School Board
Parents and residents continue to provide comments to the board about ways to close the $73 million budget gap.
Videos
The DeKalb County Schools board of education continues to search for creative ways to plug a $73 million budget gap.
Passionate parents and community members addressed the board Monday night, asking to spare rigorous advanced learning classes and magnet programs from cuts and avoid closing the Fernbank Science Center.
"It's not just a field trip destination,” Fernbank Science Center teacher Lawrence Wilson said.
See more comments in the video clips posted above.
Cost savings options on the table include increasing class sizes, a 1-mill tax increase, eliminating the district-wide Pre-K program and sending pink slips to 70 central office employees.
Read the full list of proposed cuts.
Do you support a 1-mill tax increase? Share your opinion in the comments.
juanita driggs
12:39 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
If you're a parent, invite your child/children to listen to how important the Fernbank Science Center has been over the years and continues to be now. The 2002 Emory University "Science In Your LIfe" piece about the Fernbank Science Center has just been found and posted on Atlanta Sidestreets, a broadcast archive site at http://atlantasidestreets.com. The audio is located on the "Current Audio HIghlights" page.
DunwoodyWorkingMan
2:46 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
i spoke to a few school kids about Fernbank. While they like the museum (not run by the school system) they did not like the science center. It was "boring", "not worth the trip", "a dumb trip". The only people fighting for Fernbank are the Fernbank Elem parents. Don't be fooled DeKalb voters, the DeKalb science center is nothing more than a jobs program for DeKalb friends and family.
Al Tate
5:06 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
DunwoodyWorkingMan,
Were you at the hearing last night???? Do you read?? If so you should be aware that several petitions with over 2500 names have been sent to the School Board saying just the opposite. And I know personally that your comments are flat untrue about the "Jobs program". The fact that you named it the "DeKalb science center" makes me wonder if your intent here is just to discredit the Fernbank Science Center so that the Dekalb School District will cut them from the budget and force them to close. If that happens, FSC will become a $50 Million DeKalb Taxpayer asset that will be handed over, AT NO COST to the Fernbank Museum of Natural History! Is that your real purpose when trying to discredit the Science Center???
Paula
6:34 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Come on Al, anybody can put up a petition and email it out to everyone they know and come up with 2500 signatures. That's not impressive. So, you are okay with increasing class sizes just so that Fernbank can stay open? I don't have a problem with turning the Science Center over to the museum. Let them raise the money to keep it up.
Al Tate
10:04 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
No Paula,
I'm not OK with class sizes. They are too large now. But closing FSC and giving it to FMNH will not change that. What it will change is the opportunity for school kids to get a real opportunity to learn science and, more importantly to get excited about their education. It will take away a real asset that classroom teachers have. Worse, it will not reduce the budget in any meaningful way. I guess you are OK with destroying a great opportunity that DeKalb Students have to really pursue their interest in Science. You must be one of those parents who feel that having students sit in class, read a book or otherwise get force-fed facts and then take a standardized test is really all students need to get an education, of course provided that that doesn't cost too much.
Education is not just about the money. Our children are, far and away, the most precious and important asset we and our nation have. The education system as currently structured is broken and we have got to repair it. FSC is not a perfect institution but instructors there are top of the line, committed folks who work hard with kids to teach them and help them pursue their scientific interests. It takes a lot to impress you. For the record, these petetions were not just signatures. Many of the signatures were accompanied by letters of support for the Science Center. Don't think that our supporters are not numerous and passionate about their experience at FSC.
lastminutemom
6:39 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
With all due respect, the petition has been signed by people all over the world, so many of them are not sharing the costs at all for FSC.
My children have been underwhelmed by their experiences with Fernbank in terms of field trips and in school presentations. I think everyone takes the passion and enthusiasm for STT and advanced science programs and tries to extrapolate it to the rest of the Center.
What other school system has to pay exhibit designers, etc while raising class sizes and slashing teacher salaries? Not one other one.
I understand the desire to have time to come up with a plan. Give the center one more year as a DCSS facility. Form a committee now to figure out how to transistion it to a public/private facility. Make it happen by this time next year.
DCSS will most likely have less money next year than it does this year. Plan accordingly.
prettyflower
9:37 pm on Saturday, June 9, 2012
Wise words, lastminutemom.
Ms.
10:42 pm on Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Everyone has done a great job at playing right into the hands of Dekalb, and doing exactly what they wanted you to do, get distracted by this issue, and not face the realities of the financial situation. The report earlier in the yearsaid they could cut upwards of 300 jobs in the central office. They have cut 70, for $10 million dollars, and that's it. Why not more? Why aren't we asking? Oh that's right, because everyone is busy looking at Fernbank. The school board members budgets have gone up $2 million from last year. That's despicable. But everyone is looking at Fernbank.
As far as the children who didn't appreciate Fernbank... I mean, I think we need to stop coddling children and giving into their every whim, they shouldn't be in control of the curriculum, certainly not in elementary/middle school age anyhow. It's an age of computers and video games, and things that pull them out of that element, are less entertaining. But they need to stop expecting to be entertained at every second of their life, and parents should be explaining this to them. Some kids aren't into science, that's just the way it goes sometimes, but parents encouraging them to open their minds, explore, use their imagination can be helpful. Realistically, I had to pay a lot of money learning things in college that were useless to me, but that's what's necessary to get the degree. It wasn't entertaining all the time, but welcome to life.
lastminutemom
6:42 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Al
You and the other FSC instructors, if you were in a school, would directly impact 150-180ish children a year -- directly. STT only serves that many students per year and the advanced classes (AP, other classes) have 4 to 10 students per year. It is nearly impossible to measure the impact of the other work that FSC does. (Also, there is going to be no money for field trips next year, so that is going to complicate the mission of FSC even more.)
This is the third time, in 7 years, that FSC has been on the chopping block. Each time, everyone panics, and then the system gives in and then nothing changes. Though promises are made, no effort is put fourth by all those thousands of supporters to change the dynamics.
We are the only school system that has to pay for a museum. How is that working out for us? DCSS has terrible science outcomes.
Kirkwood Resident
7:21 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
We are in Georgia. Who needs science since people here don't believe in evolution? Might as well just shut the place down and send the kids to church for their eduction. Makes sense. America is falling behind in education against the rest of the industrial nations so we might as well embrace it since our kids find science boring and underwhelming versus Call of Duty and Facebook. Hey, at least we are getting a new sewer system and some roads resurfaced and widened.
Space Ship
11:39 am on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
I lost interest in Fernbank the moment they put on the Mythical Creatures program. I guess there isn't enough real science to talk to our kids about.
Don Broussard
12:32 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Get it straight: the Mythical Creatures show was at the Fernbank MUSEUM which is a separate corporation -- not the Fernbank Science Center that is owned by the people of DeKalb County and our school system. BTW, I thought it was incredibly stupid too -- showing how desperate the Museum is to make money. But that's not the Science Center, ok? Got it?
Space Ship
12:42 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Thanks for over-emphasizing your point.
David S
1:11 pm on Wednesday, June 6, 2012
If you currently think that DeKalb taxpayers should continue funding FSC, read the final report returned by the Blue Ribbon Task Force regarding FSC in 2006 (linked in an article at www.dekalbwatch.wordpress.com). It’s six years old, but Dr. Lewis shelved it and never addressed any of the issues raised and there’s no indication that anyone else at DCSS has done so since. The “Cliff’s Notes” version of the report is that, at the time, there was little oversight, sloppy and insufficient legal and financial record-keeping, and a lack of leadership and sense of mission.
Assuming these issues have been resolved (although there’s no reason to do so), FSC is a luxury we can no longer afford. Let it revert back to Fernbank, Inc. They have over $30M in assets and over $13M in annual income. Let them run it as a regional science center, just like the Museum of Natural History. Other school systems could access it and pay for the services they receive.
Jane Stewart
7:43 am on Friday, June 8, 2012
Not your "run of the mill" teacher salaries.
SPEAKER 1 $66,396.69
SPEAKER 2 $90,716.57
SPEAKER 3 $97,621.77
No wonder they're speaking up at the board meeting!
Don't mess with Fernbank. It's holy ground.
Low and Behold
1:11 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
why should DeKalb increase class sizes or taxes so that other school systems have a science center to visit?
Unfortunately most people don't recognize that the regionally known Fernbank and this DeKalb Schools Fernbank are 2 different things.
The DeKalb School System is bloated with non teaching positions - Fernbank adds to that bloat at the facility and at the main school office.
Close or transfer the Fernbank Science Center.
Don Broussard
6:28 pm on Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Johnathan, you apparently know nothing about Fernbank, probably have never been there, and don't have kids in the county schools. Your logic is that DeKalb Schools must not do ANYTHING that indirectly benefits others school systems? Fernbank Science Center has been functioning just fine since 1965 when our country was in crisis during the space race. Now, in 2012 geniuses like you say we don't need advanced science education and we can't afford this??? Your Tea Party values see bloat everywhere -- this time you're wrong. Cutting Fernbank sends a message that DeKalb Schools are committed to Mediocrity and that we won't spend any money on excellence. Is that where we really want to go? -- the Clayton County model of education? There is plenty wrong with the DeKalb School System -- cutting Fernbank is NOT going to fix it.