HY PAY FULL PRICE?
HY WAIT FOR A SALE?
Dual Positions Lend
Perspective To Strike
LESLEY PEARL
Staff Writer
fter weeks of
picketing and
meetings, Ezra
Roberg returned to Detroit
Kettering High School last
week. However, he remains
in the spotlight of school pol-
itics.
Mr. Roberg, an Oak Park
resident, teaches science at
Kettering. He also is serving
his sixth year on the Oak
Park school board. And his
children attend private
schools.
Although Mr. Roberg's
position on the school board
gave him perspective on the
teachers' strike, he claims
his two positions do not
become intertwined.
"These are really two diff-
erent situations," Mr.
Roberg said. "The Detroit
school system has more than
170,000 students. The Oak
Park school system has
about 3,000. Detroit has a
A
"As an educator, I
feel I have
something to offer
the board."
Ezra Roberg
school board that is quite in-
sulated from its teachers due
to the vastness of numbers."
He admits the dual posi-
tions may at times color his
thinking.
"Some individuals may
have bad feelings about
comments the Detroit super-
intendent made. I don't take
it personally. She was doing
her job. Perhaps being on the
Oak Park school board
allows me to step back and
view her position," Mr.
Roberg said.
Numbers comprised much
of the debate in the teachers'
strike. For Mr. Roberg, and
many other teachers, class
size was, and still is, the
number one issue.
Last year Mr. Roberg's
average class size was 33
students.
Mr. Roberg also buys
many of his own supplies for
class, including basics like
paper. He has found order-
ing through the district to be
a long and frustrating pro-
cess.
"Sometimes supplies will
come in that were ordered
three years ago. The teacher
isn't even at the school
anymore," he said.
Hassles aside, Mr. Roberg
enjoys his work at Ketter-
ing, where he has been
teaching for nine years.
"The negativism of
teaching in Detroit has been
blown out of proportion," he
said. "If you have something
to offer students they will
listen and they will learn."
Mr. Roberg said many of
the difficulties he en-
counters professionally
result from his job in the
suburbs, on the school board.
He referred to a Newsweek
article that chronicled the
frustrations of being a school
board member.
"Outside mandating gives
school boards little latitude
toward finances. The board
often really doesn't have
much control," he said.
Budgets are always
difficult.
Last year, state
lawmakers informed the
Oak Park school board they
would be passing on all
FICA (social security) costs
to the district. More than $1
million would have to be
raised by the district to cover
these costs. Lawmakers
changed their position at the
eleventh hour, holding off
changes until the 1992-93
school year.
"They have given us no
timetable," Mr. Roberg said.
"What is the board supposed
to do? We need dollars to
eventually pay these
negative supplements pass-
ed on to the district. We have
nowhere to go for funds and
have no idea when we will
have to take over these
costs."
The issue has yet to be
resolved.
Mr. Roberg has no plans of
giving up, though.
"This is a taxing body.
And I like to see money
spent wisely," Mr. Roberg
said. "As an educator, I feel I
have something to offer the
board. I have an understan-
ding of changes implemented
in the district." ❑
Beth Achim Sets
Holiday Dinner
Congregation Beth Achim
will host a Torah Dinner 6:15
p.m. Oct. 19 at the synagogue.
A dairy dinner will be
followed by Maariv services
and Hakafot.
There is a charge. For reser-
vations by Oct. 11, call Con-
gregation Beth Achim,
352-8670.
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