K-12 teacher assistants ful?ll many duties

Nancy Bierman, a third-grade teacher’s assistant at McDougle Elementary School, sits outside watching students chase one another around the playground.

The classroom’s teacher remains inside helping other students with their work.

“Without an assistant, right now my teacher would be out here watching the kids instead of giving students extra help,” Bierman said.

In addition to escorting students to recess and special programs, assistants provide students with individual attention and relieve teachers of time-consuming tasks such as recording attendance and taking care of paperwork.

Now, with potential shortfalls in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools’ budget for fiscal year 2005-06, funding might not be available for assistants like Bierman.

To prepare for the possible shortfall — which could total as much as $2.3 million because of a low projected student enrollment and a potential decrease in state funding — the city school board is considering cuts or reduced funding in 19 areas.

Those areas include elementary school assistants, after-school programs, school resource officers in middle schools and teachers in the exceptional children’s program.

And many members of the district’s staff are not just concerned about their job security.

Worries of losing educational quality play a much larger role in their anxiety, some staff members said.

“No matter how wonderful and fabulous you are as a teacher, one-on-one help would sort of evaporate with only one adult in the room,” Bierman said.

“With different children being at different levels, it would be really difficult.”

Frank Camp, director of the Smith Middle School after-school program, also expressed concerns about next year’s budget. Transportation for after-school programs might be cut if the programs are not eliminated entirely.

“We’ve had the after-school program for about 12 years, and the average age of our students is 12 years old,” he said. “This is all that these families have known.”

“It’s become expected, and I worry what will happen if it’s taken away.”

Camp said the program’s main focus is to enrich students academically through individualized attention. The program also provides time for students to participate in school clubs and activities sponsored by community organizations.

Sixth-grader Justin Craig said the program is valuable because it allows him to participate in student government, get help with homework and spend time with his friends.

“If it wasn’t for this, I’d probably just go home,” he said. “It would be pretty boring.”

Bojia Chen, also a sixth-grader, agreed, saying that idle time might encourage some of his classmates to get into trouble. “Boredom just does things to you,” he said.

Bierman said she hopes the cuts can be avoided for the sake of the district’s reputation.

“We’re in a community in which parents really demand a high level of excellence,” she said.

“People move here because they know about the district’s high quality of education, and I hope that continues to be the case.”

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.