March 16, 2011
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Page 9
Disturbing Move to Larger Class Sizes
Budget cuts risk a more prosperous future
by J udge
G reg M athis
The struggling economy
has, unfortunately, forced
state and local governments
across the country to make
cuts in much needed services
and programs.
T he n a tio n ’s p u b lic
schools have been hit particularly hard by
these cuts. First, some districts reduced or
completely eliminated physical education
classes and arts programming - program­
ming that has been proven to enhance stu­
dent academic performance.
Then, others began to elim inate teach­
ers, slowly growing classrooms sizes. Now,
it seem s even more school districts are
Ohio and W isconsin have all relaxed their tions for the teacher and less individual
restrictions on class size. Idaho and Texas attention for the students.
looking to reduce the num ber of teach­ are deciding w hether or not they are going
During his State of the Union address,
ers on the p a y ro ll and co m b in e to grow th ey ’re classroom s.
President Obama called on America to invest
classroom s...all in an effort to save
Those who see cutting back on teachers in education. By putting our resources to­
money.
and increasing class sizes as a solution to ward our children, we will, in effect, be put­
A recent article in the New York budget woes are the same people who don’t ting a down payment on a more prosperous
Tim es shed light on this disturbing believe class size matters when it comes to future for America.
m ovem ent toward larger class sizes. student achievement.
School districts should not sacrifice stu­
A ccording to the article, the size of
However, multiple studies have shown us dent performance during a time of education
11th and 12th grade classes in Los Ange­ that class size does matter. Research shows crisis. America has fallen behind other coun­
les has increased by more than 40 stu­ that, overall, students perform better in tries when it comes to producing skilled
dents. D etroit is considering increasing smaller classes.
workers; our nation is no longer a nation of
the size of its high school classes to 60
Poor and m inority children seem to do innovators.
students. Though school officials there best in sm aller classes and improve at
To jeopardize our children’s future is to
say it’s unlikely classes will grow that twice the rate of the average student when jeopardize our nation’s future.
large, it’s disturbing the conversation has the student -tea ch e r ratio is low. But who
Greg Mathis is a fanner Michigan Dis­
even turned in that direction.
needs research? Com mon sense tells us trict Court Judge and current syndicated
It d o esn 't end there. G eorgia, Nevada, that more students mean more distrac­ television show judge.
Deamonte Driver’s Continuing Legacy
A Victory in
the battle to
insure children
by
M arian W right E delman
Four years ago, an entire com m unity
was devastated in Prince G eorge’s County,
M aryland, ju st outside W ashington, D.C.,
w hen 1 2 -y e a r-o ld s e v e n th g ra d e r
Deam onte D river died after com plications
from a tooth abscess.
His m other Alyce, who worked at low-
paying jobs, had searched for a dentist to
treat D eam onte’s toothache who would
accept M edicaid, but she was unsuccess­
ful.
U ltim ately, Alyce took Deam onte to a
hospital em ergency room, where he was
given m edicine for a headache, sinusitis,
and a dental abscess and sent home. But
his condition soon took a turn for the
worse, and he was back at the hospital
being rushed to surgery where it was dis­
covered that bacteria from his abscessed
tooth had spread to his brain.
Heroic efforts were made to save him,
including two operations and eight weeks
of additional care and therapy totaling
about $250,000, but it was all too late.
Deamonte died on Feb. 25, 2007— when
his life could have been saved by a routine
dental visit and an $80 tooth extraction.
Tooth decay is the single most comm on
' 110 ft la ttb (F)h S VtU Ct
chronic childhood disease— five tim es
more common than asthma and seven times
more com m on than hay fever. Dental care
is an often overlooked but critical com po,
nent of com prehensive health care for
children. Pain and suffering due to un­
treated dental disease can lead to prob­
lems in speaking, eating, and learning.
For children caught without dental cov­
erage, dental problem s can quickly be­
come more than “ju st” a toothache. Re­
search shows children who lack basic den-
Health insurance coverage is a strong
predictor of access to dental care. But
despite its im portance, dental coverage is
largely excluded from many private insur­
ance plans, and pediatric dentists can be
difficult to find. For every child without
health insurance, there are 2.6 children
without dental coverage. U ninsured ch il­
dren are 2.5 times less likely than children
with insurance (public or private) to re­
ceive dental care.
Since D eam onte’s death, Congress has
Untreated tooth decay is progressive and can
be devastating to children's long-term health,
educational achievements, self image, arid
Overall success.
-C hildren’s Dental Health ProJectStudy *
tai care m iss more days of school and see
their overall health suffer.
In fact, children miss more than 51 m il­
lion hours o f school each year due to
dental-related illnesses. According to the
C hildren’s Dental Health Project, “The oral
health o f children has a significant and
lasting im pact on the productivity of our
existing and future em ployees and lead­
ers... Untreated tooth decay is progres­
sive and can be devastating to children's
long-term health, educational achieve­
ments, self image, and overall success.”
And as D eam onte’s death showed, in
extrem e cases lack of dental care can even
lead to fatal com plications.
Established 1970
USPS 959-680 ____________ ____________________
4747 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211
prohibited these insurers from charging
out o f pocket expenses for preventive
pediatric oral health services. These two
new requirem ents alone will give m illions
of children financial access to dental health
services, many for the first time.
O ther provisions in the A ffordable Care
Act will help train more dental health pro­
viders. A new report by the C hildren’s
Dental Cam paign of the Pew Center on the
States em phasizes the im portance o f avail­
ability o f providers: the authors calculate
that more than 31 m illion Am ericans are
“unserved,” which means they live in ar­
eas where they c an ’t find a dentist in or
near their com m unity. In seven states,
more than 20 percent o f the population
c an ’t find a dentist.
M aryland, D eam onte’s home state, has
becom e a model for reform . One innova­
tiv e so lu tio n h elp in g to reach som e
underserved children like Deam onte is
mobile dental clinics staffed by volunteer
dentists, and in Novem ber the Deam onte
D river Dental Project M obile Unit, a large
van now e q u ip p e d as a th re e -c h a ir
ch ild ren ’s dental clinic, made its first stop
by spending the day at D eam onte’s old
school.
These victories are all key steps in the
right direction, and part o f the solution
still needed in order to m ake sure all ch il­
dren— poor and wealthy, rural, suburban,
and urban— receive the dental health care
they need to survive and thrive.
recognized dental coverage as an im por­
tant com ponent of com prehensive care for
children, enacting m ajor policy changes to
im prove dental coverage for children.
In 2009, the reau th o rizatio n o f the
C h ild re n ’s H ealth In su ran ce Program
(CHIP) required states to provide dental
coverage to enrolled children, and gave
states the option to provide dental ben­
efits to certain children who do not qualify
for full CH IP coverage.
In 2010, the health reform bill known as
the Affordable Care Act required that all
insurance plans to be offered through new
health insurance exchanges starting in
Marian Wright Edelman is president o f
2014 include oral care for children, and the Children's Defense Fun
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