'I couldn't get into the class because there were too many people'
EUGENE, Ore. -- High schools in Eugene, like schools throughout the district, are experiencing financial problems. Last year the Eugene 4-J School District closed four schools and had to close a 20-million dollar budget gap.
In spite of the setbacks, the district is committed to giving incoming freshman a solid start in their high school education.
"We're committed financially to having all freshman having a full schedule this year and that comes at something of a cost." said Eugene's Director of Secondary Education, Jessica Moses.
This comes at a cost to the budget, which in turn means that schools cannot afford to hire teachers for students in higher grades.
District officials said that sophomore through senior students are offered all the classes that they need to get a diploma. However several parents voiced their concerns after their students were not given a full class schedule this year.
For one student, a free period in his schedule could affect his graduation later this year.
"I had a basketball class and now I know that I needed a health credit," said Jose Carlos, a Senior at Sheldon High School. "I dropped the basketball class but I couldn't get into the health class because there were too many people."
KVAL reporter Jessica Porter spoke to other students at Sheldon with similar stories. Some kids said they love going out on their free period, others are now concerned with graduating on time.
There are other options provided to students that are behind in credits when graduation approaches.
"We have a night school program too, so if it came down to them not being able to get a class they could still (get the credit)." Carlos said.
The district also attributes the lack of space in class roll sheets to an unusually high number of students enrolled this year. Officials said that they hope to fill some student's schedules as the year progresses.
Who can we talk to, as frustrated parents, to express our feelings and concerns about what is going on with our kid's schools? I feel like there isn't anyone I can talk to who will actually listen, and when I try to speak to someone at the schools, I get one of two reactions: either a: "Yup, it's bad, but it is what it is..." and then they just turn a blind eye, or a defensive "Sheldon is rated as the #2 public high school in the state! It's a great school! You're son is lucky!!" ??? I honestly fear for the future of this beautiful state we call home, if Sheldon is actually the #2 public high school in the state. How bad do all the other public high schools in the state have to be in order for Sheldon to be #2? This is a frightening thought.
I moved to Eugene for college and never went to any of these high schools but i'm not impressed. I went to public school my whole life. The high school i went to i ALWAYS had homework. I never had any down time. My transition from college to high school honestly wasn't that hard since i was used to the work load. And senior year i thought i was going to have an ulcer because of the high senior project expectations not even counting your classes. I also did athletics in high school. According to OSAA, they regulate oregon high school sports, athletes must be passing at least 5 classes to stay eligible. How is that possible at these high schools in Eugene? I've never heard of this and i think these school districts need to be investigated. I'm so thankful i went to the school i did that pushed me, challenged me, and we had great counselors that cared and made sure we were on track to graduate. There was never a thought in my mind that i would be short on credits. I'm amazed by your stories below and feel so saddened for your kids. They are not being prepared for college or the real world from the sounds of it. And why are they taking geometry so late? i took it my Sophomore year but could've taken it my Freshman year. In fact most of my class was freshman when i did take it. I passed all my OAKS tests with exceeds expectations including science which i was always awful at. I guess my high school was great especially after reading the stories below. I can't believe it. Eugene school district might need to be reevaluated as a school system because the students are getting screwed out of an education. Of course i'm going off what people say and this article (block periods? How is that a good idea) but if what i've read is true than yes Eugene schools need help.
 @goducks06 Interestingly enough - my son also passed the science portion of the OAKS with an "exceeds expectations" score even though he hadn't taken two of the science classes that his counselor said he would need in order to even pass it by the minimum standards. We have heard similar stories from other parents. Our theory is that the science section of the OAKS is "dumbed-down" for some bizarre reason (I'm NOT saying you are dumb, please don't misread that, but that the test has been created in such a way as to make it easy to pass). And yet for some reason, the math section is very difficult for most students in Oregon. The math curriculum they use in the public schools does not currently match up with the kind of math needed for the OAKS. OAKS math is very "wordy", and the math taught in the schools is generally not so much, or at least it is wordy in a different way. So unless you have a natural ability to solve word problems or think in those terms, the OAKS will be a struggle for you because they do not work enough with word problems in the schools. The "new math" (Investigations math curriculum and it's called something else in the higher grades I cannot think of it right now) that they teach in the schools is obviously not working. They need to go back to the traditional, tried-and-true math that worked for many generations before they tried going all progressive and new-fangled with regards to academic curriculum. If you talk to the kids who excell at math in the public schools here, chances are you'll find that their parents supplemented their math studies at home with more traditional methods, or they had a tutor, or they were lucky enough to have teachers over the years who really cared and taught traditional math in addition to the "new math" that Oregon pushes onto teachers to try to teach.
Sorry - swithed - switched. :(
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Also - the students are forced to take and try to pass the OAKS tests even if they haven't had the classes they need in order to pass all the sections of it. There are sophomores and juniors who have not been able to pass the math part of the OAKS because they haven't been given geometry yet (and no amount of parent bitching will make the school do anything about it). You have to have geometry to pass the math section of the OAKS. Yet kids are failing that section because they've never taken geometry - and it's not anything they have done, it's what the school hasn't done. It's ridiculous.
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I think the ridiculous block scheduling is a big part of the problem. The school tries to sell it as longer class periods so that there can be more in-depth discussion for each subject. That's not what happens. What happens is either the kids are allowed half the class period to get their homework done, or we have had teachers at Sheldon in the past who have allowed the kids to simply leave class early. My son has never had homework in all his years of high school thus far - he always gets it done in class, with time to spare. It's ridiculous.
 @orefinneje Very similar situation at Willamette, my kids always seem to be able to get their homework done in class and "study hall". They are not slackers either, taking honors and IB classes and getting straight A's.
We are dealing with this issue as well. Our son - a junior at Sheldon High School - only has one class! The other periods are "free periods". To make matters worse, his counselor swithed schools and the new temporary worker they have in her place isn't a counselor and cannot help. I spoke with scheduling, and depending on who you talk to you get different responses. Anything from "We only allow schedule changes for electives." to "Come back in October." ??? We are fed up and applying to Marist.
Well maybe you should have gotten up a little earlier in the morning and beat the rush if it was that important to you.
 @OregonOrator This year it was very confusing how the schools arranged it. It even seemed a little facetious to tell you the truth. We - parents - were told that there would only be one day for schedule changes for the whole year, and that they were not allowing any schedule changes for language arts, math, or science classes. The only changes they would allow were for elective classes. This info was placed on several flyers, emails, newsletters, etc. The one day that you could go to change elective classes only was registration day - during a time when most parents work. There was a huge line on that day (I was there) and lots and lots of parents and even more students. From about 9 in the morning until about 4 in the afternoon there was a line out the door, literally. It was a mess. When you finally spoke with the people in the scheduling office, guess what they told you? All classes were full, no changes could be made, we'll place you on a waiting list. Basically - sorry, but we can't help you. I called every day after that, trying to talk to anyone that might be able to help. They told me all kinds of things... come back in October, there aren't enough teachers because of the budget cuts, the classes are too full, etc. One lady even said, "I'm new, but if I don't know the answer I'll just make something up to help you!" Seriously. ?? So - OregonOrator - your comment doesn't really make sense. It would not have mattered what time a person woke up or even got there. The response we're getting from the schools are the same: our kids are SOL, and there's nothing we can do about it.
@orefinneje I'll read this huge block of text once you break it into paragraphs.
 @OregonOrator They may have intended to... ever since KVAL switched to the new commenting I have only been able to break my comments into paragraphs a couple times. =/ The rest of the time it just squishes it back together. Super annoying.
 @OregonOrator Oh come on, this isn't college. Everyone who needs a class should be able to get into it... especially a core class.Â
@PleaseBeSmart @OregonOrator I agree this is high school. Maybe there are not enough teachers that possess the knowledge to teach the classes. What does that say about our education system.
Children are not getting the education they need from public schools, simply because the unions are unwilling to budge. They want the teachers, (Public Employees) to get their retirement fully funded by the tax payer. This is causing serious budget problems for not just teachers but for all government employees. PERS is underfunded by as much as 42 billion dollars. The fact that tax payers have to pay for these folks retirements with no contribution by the employee is wrong. The average private sector employee can't get anywhere near the benefits of government employees. So the debt service, and the contributions add up to somewhere in the 20 percent range plus, and this is not sustainable, which leaves no choice but to make further cuts, which causes more problems, which causes more problems, etc. etc. Home and Private Schooling will solve some of the problem, but eventually it will all come to a head, and when Government employees start losing pensions then the unions will have to back off, until then brace yourself for more of the same.
@souptonuts
You probably shouldn't talk about things you don't actually know. I know many teachers, and my mom is currently a teacher (and $90,000 in debt to teach children of parents that don't support them). My mom showed me her PERS statement and the fact was that she has contributed to over 80% of it. So yes, they do contribute to their PERS. You shouldn't believe everything that you hear until you know the facts. In conclusion, their retirement isn't even close to fully funded by the tax payer and i have her statement and pay stubs to prove it. And she always owes when she files her taxes so if you want to look at it from another view she is helping fund the other 20% of her PERS she didnât directly contribute to from her salary. Although usually ignorant people won't believe facts because they would rather believe whoever brainwashed the idea in their head. That's fine. Not here to prove a point just to let people who care about knowing the truth the chance too.Â
@goducks06 You say your mom is currently a teacher, and she is drawing PERS. Is she one of the teachers that retired and hired back for approx. 1000 hours a year, which is what they can do, it is called double dipping the system, and prevents new people from being hired.
@goducks06 Also there is article after article available on how people have abused the system. I have no knowledge of your mother's situation nor do I desire to have anyone's personal info. Some PERS recipients padded there final average salary with unused sick leave, vacation days, etc. This in effect boosted there PERS income considerably to in excess of 100 percent of what they were making while working. You really shouldn't be labeling people as ignorant until you know all the facts, that to me says something about your honor right there.
@goducks06 Maybe you should do a little studying yourself. Since 1979, (I don't know when your mother retired) there has been a PERS pickup which was originally in lieu of a raise for many teachers and public employees. These were tough times and no one was getting 6 percent raises which is what it worked out to for these people. So since 1979 the pickup has been in effect, and strangely I believe that is the year the legislatures got involved. Anyway currently about 70 of the employers offer the pickup to their PERS employees. It is estimated that in 2013 this will cost 874 Million dollars paid for by the tax payers. If your mother retired prior to 1979 she did pay for one half of her retirement contribution. If she retired as a teach after 1979 she probably was a beneficiary of the 6 per cent pickup. I will do some more research to make sure that I am absolutely not putting out any bad info, because I am a strong believer in truth and honor. Are you?
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 @Libertarian Revolution As a homeschooler you should know that those taxes you pay still benefit you. A public school system affects the whole community good and/or bad whether or not they have children directly involved in it or not. Even childless persons. Also, you may utilize certain aspects of the local public schools for things like jazz band, drama, etc. to supplement your homeschooling curriculum. I know quite a few homeschooling families who do that, the kids truly benefit from the experience. I would love to homeschool my kids, but I must work.
 @Libertarian Revolution do you teach your children to attack people like that,to insult and name call really is that how you treat people you dont even know,I hope your children are taken from you as you are angry mean and not a good roll model