Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 10 · column 5 of 9 · from the scan, no model involved
philosophy comes into play in deciding on course offerings, he said, adding that as a rule throughout the state, vocational courses have been found to be inadequate.
Then, a decision must be reached on how many classes of each course will be scheduled, Hamill said. Using English as an example, he said the total number of students who take the course are divided by average class size. "Not 40—you'd have to figure the class size at 25,” Hamill said, adding that most school divisions used 23. If 150 students are expected to take English, that works out to one classroom for six periods a day, Hamill said.
This same process must be followed for math, social studies, languages, science, art, . home economics, business, vocational—all areas of instruction, the building supervisor continued.
Then, in the final step to determine space adequacy, the existing class spaces are subtracted from the rooms needed to serve the projected enrollment to arrive at the number of rooms that must be constructed if the educational program as envisioned by the school board is to be carried through. "Any consultant that you get can’t make it any simpler.” Hamill advised the board.
Eastham maintained that no member of the board is competent to evaluate course offerings and scheduling. Analysis requires a specialist, he argued.
Board Is Specialist
“A specialist can’t tell you how many kids should be enrolled in English—you’ve got to decide that. . . You collectively are the specialist,” he told the board members. “Or you can find someone to speak for you," Hamill said, describing the school board's insistence on an outside consultant as ‘‘trying to reinvent the wheel.” He noted that the school board, if satisfied with the high school program, will probably make only minor alterations instead of sweeping changes.
“Frankly, we’re not sure," countered Eastham, adding that there’s disagreement on the board as to whether the high school program is adequate.
"Fine, then you can improve it." Hamill said. He pointed out, however, that the board has only so much leeway since the high school program must satisfy both the Standards of Quality and graduation requirements. “You can try to reinvent the wheel but whatever you do, it still has to be round with a hole in the middle,” he said.
"1 don’t think you’ll be any better off with a consultant,” Hamill continued. “If you hire a specialist, he’ll take the information you’ve given him and hand it right back to you and say you can do this /or you can do this. You’ll still have to make the decision. . . If a consultant is worth the money, he must tell you something you don’t already know. I don’t think he can,” Hamill concluded.
The building supervisor
90.5%