Referendum vote to affect School of Education student placements

For Debra Ann Tyree’s fourth period U.S. History class at Bloomington High School North, there’s been a change of plans.

Instead of giving group presentations, an outdoor activity is on the schedule for the class of about 25 students.

“What are we doing right now?” one student asked.

“Throwing marshmallows at each other,” said IU senior Taryn Drazewski, the class’s student teacher. “It’s pretty easy.”

With controversy surrounding budget cuts, the class’s activities aren’t the only changes being made in the Monroe County Community School Corporation.

In response to teacher cuts, increased class sizes and a dwindling budget, the corporation proposed a Nov. 2 ballot referendum, approved by the MCCSC board June 23.

The referendum would increase the property tax levy by 14 cents per $100 for the next six years. The money from the tax increase will replace funds the schools previously lost — a total of $7.5 million.

“The referendum is an opportunity for voters to determine if they are going to take on a tax increase. ...specifically for schools,” said David Pillar, principal of Jackson Creek Middle School.

If the referendum doesn’t pass, MCCSC teachers could face even more cuts, but how could these effects reach future teachers at the IU School of Education?

“If the referendum doesn’t pass, there will be less positions for them to teach in,” Pillar said. “When we have to make cuts, unfortunately faculty is one place you have to go. But it transcends traditional student teaching placement. It’s going to affect graduate students and Ph.D. students as well. It’s bigger than that and will affect more people than just seniors in their last semester.”

Through all of the debate surrounding budget cuts and the referendum, Tyna Hunnicutt, director of the Early Field Experiences program at the IU School of Education, said she has not seen an effect on the number of students requesting to teach at MCCSC schools.

“We knew our students would still want to be in MCCSC,” Hunnicutt said.

Letha Taylor, director for the Office of Student Teaching in the education school, said the number of students who request MCCSC varies from year to year, along with the number of placements the schools offer.

There’s no set number for how many students request MCCSC each year, Taylor said. It depends on enrollment.

However, most out-of-state students request MCCSC because they have to teach in Indiana, Taylor said.

Drazewski said she is an out-of-state student from Illinois and was told by friends to put MCCSC as her first choice out of convenience.

“So I put MCCSC first and didn’t know anything about it,” Drazewski said. “I got here and learned more and more about the (referendum). Even if I did a fantastic job here, they can’t hire me.”  

At the beginning of the year, the schools did not know what teacher would be in what classroom, Taylor said, making student teaching placements difficult.

When teachers change from teaching third to fifth grades, Hunnicutt said, they need time to adjust and cannot take on a student teacher.

“It made it a bit slower, but we’re still getting the placements,” Taylor said.

The dismissal of the referendum would not only mean less IU placements, Pillar said, but it would also bring about larger MCCSC class sizes.

“It’s easier when there are 24 kids than 38 to 40,” Pillar said.

Drazewski said she teaches three subjects: three U.S. History classes, two psychology classes and one sociology class. While her history classes have less than 30 students, her other two subjects have 40 or more each.

“That many students are tough to manage,” Drazewski said. “I can’t even imagine having more than that.”

Though midterm elections historically have low voter turnout, Pillar said with the open senator position, more people might come out to vote.

“With early voting, there’s no excuse not to vote if people support it,” Pillar said.
If the referendum fails to pass, however, Pillar said future teachers could look at this
optimistically.

“We’re going to need more volunteers,” Pillar said. “A teacher with 35 to 40 students in their class might need an IU student. The students might be a lifesaver. But ultimately, we want the referendum to pass so more placements are made available. We need the referendum to pass."