Polk County Education
14A Polk County Itemizer-Observer • May 17, 2017
Books for Bikes keeps students motivated for reading
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Oakdale Heights Ele-
mentary students were buried in
books through the month of April,
hoping for a chance to win a bike.
For the eighth year, Oakdale
gave away bikes as a reward for
reading books outside of school.
“The whole idea is to keep
them reading,” said Susan Fisch-
er, an Oakdale kindergarten
teacher, who collects donations
for the program.
After having their noses in books
for the entire month, the kids ea-
gerly awaited the presentation of
the bikes, one for each class, on
Monday afternoon.
Physical education teacher Jon
Petersen emceed the presentation
and congratulated the students on
their hard work.
“You all did really great on read-
ing a lot of books. The main goal
was to read a lot of books,” he said.
The “Books for Bikes” program
provides one bike for each class-
room. The students are given read-
ing session sheets, with three ses-
sions on each one. Once a student
completes all three — a parent or
guardian has to sign off on them —
they are turned in for a chance to
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
The Books for Bikes program
gave away one bike per class.
win the bike. Students can turn in
as many sheets as they can com-
plete in a month.
“I would guess that we’ve seen
an increase in out-of-school read-
ing,” Peterson said.
He said 16 bikes were given
away this year — 15 on Monday
and one in the middle of April to
remind the students what they
were reading for.
JOLENE GUZMAN/Itemizer-Observer
Students receive their bikes at Oakdale Heights Elementary School on Monday afternoon.
One of the lucky winners was
third-grader Zeric Reed. He wasn’t
sure how he was going to get his
bike home Monday. Maybe the
bus?
“I’m going to try,” he said, smil-
ing. Of course, the school made
sure all bikes got to their proper
destinations.
Zeric said his new bike is “great”
because he has bikes at home
,“but they’re all broken.”
As he waited to leave the
school’s gym with his new bike, an-
other student bounded up to Zeric.
“Hey Zeric, high-five dude,” the
boy said, congratulating his friend.
See BIKES, Page 7A
Oakdale teachers ask district to reconsider cuts
By Jolene Guzman
The Itemizer-Observer
DALLAS — Teachers from
Oakdale Heights Elementary
School asked the Dallas
School District to reconsider
cutting the school’s teaching
staff in the 2017-18 budget.
In the budget proposal,
there’s one less licensed staff
position at the school.
The next meeting of the
Dallas School District Budg-
et Committee is Wednesday
(today) at 6 p.m. at the dis-
trict office, 111 SW Ash St.,
Dallas.
Heather Anderson, an in-
tervention specialist at Oak-
dale, spoke before the Dallas
School Board at its May 8
meeting. Other Oakdale staff
members attended the
meeting in support.
“If you reduce our staff,
we’re increasing class size
for our youngest, most vul-
nerable learners,” she said.
“We know statistics show us
that if these children don’t
leave third grade reading, we
have mountains for them to
climb the rest of their edu-
cational career.”
Anderson said more than
a third of students at Oak-
dale are not meeting bench-
marks in math and reading.
Also, 35 percent of students
are “time intensive,” which
includes those who have be-
havioral challenges. She
added 44 students should be
receiving extra instruction in
reading and/or math, but
the school doesn’t have the
staff to fit them in.
Anderson said she under-
stands the budget pressure
the district is facing. District
administrators recently met
with school staff to discuss
the proposal.
“We’re just here to really
implore you to reflect on the
decision we are making by
reducing staff at Oakdale,”
she said.
Superintendent Michelle
Johnstone said based on
projections, there will be 30
fewer students at Oakdale
next year. Also considered in
the decision is the positive
impact of talented teachers,
even with bigger classes,
Johnstone said.
She also acknowledged
that projected class sizes are
not ideal, especially given
the number of students in
need of special education or
behavior intervention.
“We are looking at the dy-
namics there, but unfortu-
nately when it comes down
to budget, you have 30 chil-
dren leaving your building,”
Johnstone said. “That’s 30
less children that we are an-
ticipating. That’s where we
start looking at how do we
adjust the FTE (teachers).”
To help with students who
need counseling and special
education, the district is pro-
posing adding a school psy-
chologist to work with stu-
dents and families, and a full-
time special education
teacher, Johnstone said. An-
other possible solution is
looking at the boundaries be-
tween Lyle and Oakdale to
balance the number of stu-
dents attending each school.
“We are hearing you,”
Johnstone said. “Please
know that we are hearing
you, but there’s also a budg-
et piece that we have to
clearly deal with.”
Oakdale third-grade
teacher Jennifer Casalegno
said with some classes esti-
mated to have as many 28 to
30 students in them next
year, struggles will continue.
“It hurts to be able to look
out into my room and know
what’s going on is not what
is best for the kids,” she said.
“There are too many of
them. We can’t build rela-
tionships with the kids. They
are not building positive re-
lationships with each other.
It’s a constant battle.”
Board member Mike Boll-
man said the district will
continue to search for solu-
tions, but also hopes that the
state Legislature will boost
the K-12 budget before the
session concludes. Anderson
and Casalegno said staff at
the school are getting in
touch with lawmakers to
plead for that as well.
“It’s a massive challenge
and there’s no easy remedy. I
think Michelle is listening to
concerns and we are hoping
to see some positive budget
news from the Legislature at
some point,” Bollman said.
“We can’t guarantee it.”