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The Chillicothe School District is facing very difficult and tumultuous times and it appears now is the time for the district patrons, faculty, staff and board members to take control of and return the ship to safe harbor.
Financial times are tough. We get that. Tough decisions must be made. We get that, also.
But, we also know that faculty members, department heads and building administrators have made budget-cutting suggestions in the past several months—but for some reason—appear to be not being given proper consideration.
At last week’s school board meeting, the board’s directive was to have building administrators solicit suggestions from their buildings’ teachers on ways to cut spending. This appeared to be fairly clear marching orders. The teachers last week were invited to once again provide suggestions. This course of action holds merit as teacher and building administrators probably know best how money is being spent day-to-day in their respective schools.
But, the very next day our teachers received an email telling them to take a “mandatory” survey, which asked them to select the option they felt “should be used to cut district costs.”
Their options:
• a 5 percent pay cut for all teachers (this would not include support staff or administrators—administrative cutbacks have already been determined); or
• staff reduction.
This appears to be a mixed message. First they are asked to go back to their schools and come up with suggestions and ideas for cost reductions. Then the next day they are asked to respond to an email that gives them two options. We worry that not all avenues are being explored before cost cutting measures are being taken to the Board for action, and this “mandatory” survey seems to verify our concerns.
The Chillicothe School District has some of the finest teachers in the state, who have chosen a career in education because they wanted to make a difference in the lives of our children. It appears that teacher morale is very low and has been for quite some time in our district.
We understand that someone has to take on the difficult task of making cost cutting recommendation to the Board, and that someone is current Superintendent Dr. Linda Gray Smith. We believe that she has the best interest of our children at heart. What we do question though is the process of how some of these recommendations are being made. Last weeks recommendation to cut freshman sports in an effort to help cut $25,000 out of the athletic department budget did not seem to have much merit. We believe there are several different solutions that could have been made to make these cuts without completely eliminating a sports program. And it is obvious that many community members and faculty members believe the same as exhibited by the umber of concerned individuals that showed up in protest at last weeks board meeting.
The Chillicothe School District is facing very difficult and tumultuous times and it appears now is the time for the district patrons, faculty, staff and board members to take control of and return the ship to safe harbor.
Financial times are tough. We get that. Tough decisions must be made. We get that, also.
But, we also know that faculty members, department heads and building administrators have made budget-cutting suggestions in the past several months—but for some reason—appear to be not being given proper consideration.
At last week’s school board meeting, the board’s directive was to have building administrators solicit suggestions from their buildings’ teachers on ways to cut spending. This appeared to be fairly clear marching orders. The teachers last week were invited to once again provide suggestions. This course of action holds merit as teacher and building administrators probably know best how money is being spent day-to-day in their respective schools.
But, the very next day our teachers received an email telling them to take a “mandatory” survey, which asked them to select the option they felt “should be used to cut district costs.”
Their options:
• a 5 percent pay cut for all teachers (this would not include support staff or administrators—administrative cutbacks have already been determined); or
• staff reduction.
This appears to be a mixed message. First they are asked to go back to their schools and come up with suggestions and ideas for cost reductions. Then the next day they are asked to respond to an email that gives them two options. We worry that not all avenues are being explored before cost cutting measures are being taken to the Board for action, and this “mandatory” survey seems to verify our concerns.
The Chillicothe School District has some of the finest teachers in the state, who have chosen a career in education because they wanted to make a difference in the lives of our children. It appears that teacher morale is very low and has been for quite some time in our district.
We understand that someone has to take on the difficult task of making cost cutting recommendation to the Board, and that someone is current Superintendent Dr. Linda Gray Smith. We believe that she has the best interest of our children at heart. What we do question though is the process of how some of these recommendations are being made. Last weeks recommendation to cut freshman sports in an effort to help cut $25,000 out of the athletic department budget did not seem to have much merit. We believe there are several different solutions that could have been made to make these cuts without completely eliminating a sports program. And it is obvious that many community members and faculty members believe the same as exhibited by the umber of concerned individuals that showed up in protest at last weeks board meeting.
The superintendent has already resigned her position from the district.
We must remember that all decisions going forward will have an impact on our future. We are the ones who have chosen to make the Chillicothe School District our home district.
A district is only as strong as our leaders and although new leadership is on the way we implore our current board to take a more proactive role in the recommendations that will affect our children’s future. Now is the time for us to reclaim our school district. We ask the board to direct Dr. Smith to play a smaller role in the budget process and in making these recommendations and investigate the idea of forming an advisory pannel of qualified local individuals from the district and community to explore the cost saving opportunities that may be available.
The board of education can be an unenviable volunteer position. And, we know they want the best for the district and they should be thanked for their service. But they also must fulfill the commitments they made to patrons. Sometimes, the waters are calm and predicable and at other times they are stormy. At this time we hope the board will take on a more proactive role and help us reclaim our school district.
