A sad thing is happening in Brookline Public Schools. Many teachers are being laid-off all over BPS. The Runkle Times interviewed 5 kids and one parent about how they’re feeling about this lay-off situation. The Runkle Times today is going to zoom into Runkle School and how these kids and parents are thinking and feeling about this situation.
We asked Gabriel Belfi Boyle about his opinion on this. Gabriel thinks that laying off all of these teachers is a “stupid idea” he says. We asked him about what he would do if he was the superintendent of BPS. He answers saying that he would hire 1 main teacher from each grade. (A main teacher is like the teacher who’s name is on the class name). He has an interesting perspective of it because his second grade and third grade teacher are going to be fired. He also said that he will hire back all the specials such as Ms. Mercer, Profè, etc. if he were the superintendent. He also thinks that making more grades having the same recess will help this situation because then instead of having tons of teachers at a recess for only two grades there could be 3-4 grades at each recess and 1-2 teachers per grade. He also suggested extending recess by a bit which would allow BPS to lower the teachers’ salary because they won’t be teaching as long as they do now. Gabriel also brought up the point that if all these teachers get laid off we’ll end up with classes of 50-60 kids which will result in the quality of the education in Brookline going down which will result in less people sending their kids to BPS which will result in some other issue. Gabriel has told us all that this is insane that all these teachers are being laid off and others will tell you too that this is insane as you read on.
Ms. Mercer has been working at Runkle for a very long time and has created so many fun projects for us. Ms. Mercer runs the cardboard challenge which is sooo fun. She helps us think creatively. Runkle would be completely different without Ms. Mercer. Ms. Mercer really is important to the Runkle spirit. I remember in second grade not exactly sure how to start my project during one of Ms. Mercer’s activities and Ms. Mercer spent a half hour just talking to me about how I could make it work. If you ever visit her office it’s full of cardboard creations that we (Runkle School students) built. Ms. Mercer is a fun teacher and Runkle would not be the same without her.
We also spoke to a couple of students that you might know Callie and Maddy Offner and asked them how they felt about the layoffs, Callie said,
“I hope the teachers come back and I hope that people respect the teachers so that they can come back.” That is such a heartwarming sentence. Maddy also said some things that I truly do love, one of them being
“I respect the teachers and I think that everyone else should do the same so we can all make a sad time just a bit better for the teachers in need.” Wow and that is only what two of the many students of BPS.
“There is no explanation to letting go 300 teachers in a city like Brookline. Education and health budgets should be the main concern in any administration” says a parent at Runkle School.“The truth is Ms Wong made me feel good, being the new guy. She helped me when I got here, and it was a hard situation to me, so it’s not gonna be easy see her go.” Says Daniel Vargas, a Student at Runkle School and writer for The Runkle Times.
All of these parents and kids hate this situation. All of them have spoken their minds. This lay-off situation is insane is what this article has shown. And if we students just hang around not helping change, things like this will happen.