CORRECTION!!! Please use highlighted email addresses below to write the district (updated from the last email). THANK YOU!!!
 
Dear JAMS families,
 
By now, you’ve seen the letters from the district and our principal informing us of the impending loss of 2.4 teaching positions at Jane Addams Middle School.  This translates to a loss of  $228,000 for our young school.  Our October numbers show that JAMS enrolled approximately 20 fewer 8th graders and 20 fewer 6th graders than projected.  (Yes, you read that correctly, a loss of around 40 students is corresponding to a loss of 2.4 teachers.)  Already, 136 8th graders are being reassigned to new science classes in preparation to displace half of a science teaching position. If JAMS receives no additional mitigation funding, further cuts will be necessary.
 
What we can do:
Write to the school board ([email protected]) and superintendent (Larry Nyland, [email protected]) today and advocate for additional funding! 

Key points to include could be:

• The district promised continuity after the geo-split from Hamilton and Eckstein. The children who had to go through the transition were promised a certain level of high-quality programming. Having staff cuts mid-year, which could impact class size and class offerings, is going to negatively impact these same kids.
• We are a brand new school.  We need more than 1 year of appropriate mitigation funding.  It isn’t practical to assume that in the second year of operation we can successfully function like a school with decades of enrollment data and funding behind it.  Hamilton, Hazel Wolf and many other schools in transition have received special mitigation and transportation support.
• The district hasn’t opened a new secondary school in 40 years.  Several are slated to open in the next few years.  JAMS is the test case for appropriate funding, leadership support and community buy-in.

Thank the school staff. Principal Montgomery is aggressively advocating on behalf of our school.  We’re lucky to be part of a community that has such deep concern for our kids’ academic success and social-emotional wellbeing.
 
Thank you so much for your concern and support. We’ll continue to keep you updated. Feel free to contact the PTSA board with concerns and ideas; we want to hear from you! The PTSA board meets this Monday (October 12th at 7pm) in the library and all are welcome.
 
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Chenette
[email protected]