Oshkosh supt. seeks to reassure public

OSHKOSH - OSHKOSH - Oshkosh school officials want to calm fears over staff layoffs and bigger classes - items the school board approved last week to fix the budget.

The board based its decision on a report by high school staff that would also trim more than 100 classes.

A small group of students gathered outside the district office to voice concerns about changes at Oshkosh West and North.

“I believe this is a very bad and drastic decision to cut part of the five million they've been required to cut by people higher up,” said Jordan Armstrong.

And it appears Jordan Armstrong has others on his side... more than 300 people have signed his online petition.

Interim Superintendent Bette Lang is glad people are paying attention to the issues, but says worries should be put on hold.

“It was an absolute worst case scenario,” said Lang.

Lang said the report the board considered was hypothetical, based on student class selections last year.

The board approved raising class sizes to an average of 25 students per class, but Lang said that's not set in stone.

“There will be classes below 25 next year, but they will also be-they'll be very close to 25, but they won't be in the teens or single digits,” Lang said.

“Ones that might be in the upper teens, those are the ones I'm worried about cause a lot of these honor classes are kind of up there,” said protestor Behrad Ahmadian, an Oshkosh North Freshman.

“We don't really know the answer, we're hearing various stories,” said Len Herricks, the president of the teachers' union.

”There's conflicting numbers. We're talking 35 teachers between two high schools and then you're talking about the number of classes that are going to be eliminated and the numbers at this point don't seem to add up,” said Herricks.

He said the union is working closely with the district.
“Many are nervous, the students are equally concerned about the loss of classes,” Herricks said.

Lang says any concerns are premature. She says students just completed signing up for classes for next year and it will take four to six weeks to decide which classes will be offered and which ones will be eliminated.

The teacher layoffs are expected to save the district two million dollars.

Next week, the Oshkosh school board will consider the consolidation or closure of two elementary schools.