Are you paying attention?
This is a crucial time of year. It is budget season. It is also time for two people to step up and run for two seats on the School Board. Registration for candidates begins on January 20th and ends on January 28th.
Wednesday January 13th, 7pm at the High School you will have the opportunity to tell the School Board what you think about the proposed budget. You have the opportunity to let them know what you believe should be added back in or taken out. No matter what your opinion, it will not matter, if you do not take advantage of this opportunity to express it. This is not a time for personal attacks, and I will once again make the request for these to stop. I hope we can all work together to question ideas, not attack people.
I want to thank the many people who have acknowledged how much work it is to volunteer. Anyone who signs up for a seat on a board or a committee spends a lot of precious time away from family. To continue to question the integrity and trust of anyone who works for our community, serves no purpose except to muddy the issues at hand and to show disrespect for those that serve in our community. This division needs to end and we need to all work together to provide direction and ideas.
So what about this year’s proposed budget?
Board members are coached not to state their personal opinion on budget or policy in public. They are coached to ask questions at Board meetings, but then pressured to not challenge the answers they get, or lack thereof. When they do, they are accused of being a “trouble maker”, or creating divisiveness. It is implied, that to challenge proposals implies a lack of respect or faith in the important work being done by our hard working administrators.
The problem with this logic is that it does not expose that the hard working administrators are only doing as directed by the superintendent. The building administrators then take the fall in the eyes of their staff, and many in the community, when in fact they are just employees doing what they are told to do.
One recent example of this was the decision to direct teachers to no longer allow field trips over $10 per child per year. This was a unilateral decision made by Howard during a staff meeting. The principals then had to go back to their building and immediately implement this decision, throwing many field trip plans already underway into total chaos. The board heard this decision during a live board meeting after the fact. Howard made the choice and all had to fall in line.
When Board members questioned some of the affects of that decision, it was clear the deed had been done and we were assured it would not be a big issue, but this remains a source of frustration for both staff and parents. This was similar to the way the Board was told during the last budget season that cutting bus routes would not really affect kids. Tell that to the kids standing in the cold after a long walk to their bus stop.
One of the many reasons I resigned was to be able to state my personal opinion in public during this important budget season. My personal opinion is just that, and no more important than any other. If we can all just get along for a moment, and hear each other out, I believe we will have a better chance of finding real solutions to all of the issues our district is currently faced with.
Personally, I am concerned that we are proposing cuts that seem short sighted and inequitable, and expenditures that are unnecessary. For example:
· I question why the Middle School once again seems to be bearing the brunt of cuts.
· I question why we would be adding items to the Capital plan, such as security cameras, when last year there was no mention of such an item in the “five year” plan. Why would we spend money on an item such as cameras, when our teachers are operating with insufficient supplies?
· It is proposed that we are going to buy security cameras, but fire a secretary at the middle school. This is the woman who greets all kids and parents each day with a smile, who works in an office that the phones are ringing off the hook, and parents and kids alike depend on her help and assistance on a daily basis, but lets buy security cameras at one elementary school (and not the other?!) in case something happens.
· Do we really need a custodian supervisor, or are we really more in need of a library aide who works with hundreds of kids and teachers on a daily basis?
· Do we really need a new phone system (one that we don’t know the true ROI on), or could we instead get more computers in the hands of kids?
So, what should we be spending money on that will educate our kids, help equip our teachers to do their best work, and help our kids succeed? In September board member Taylor asked for and indeed received, with the full support of the Board, a breakdown comparison of like schools and their staffing. At the time there was discussion around using this information as we went into budget season. Why is this not being used right now? If you go on line you will find this document in the September 10th agenda.
These staffing guidelines are what many districts use to guide them into a budget season. Short of a long range plan, it is something we could be using even as a general guideline during our budget season. I don’t believe spending in our district has a clear plan or vision. Suggestions and decisions are made spontaneously, and in isolation of a broader plan. The fact that our 3-5 year Capital Improvement plan suddenly included security cameras this year shows this as fact. Meanwhile other major projects such as the Mast Way parking lot/lake, and the lack of a lunch room at Moharimet … go untouched year after year.
The problem is that big projects require long range planning, and without a strategic long term plan, we spend any available money on little projects until we run out, and never have the resources to complete the big projects our schools need. I would ask, why not take money that we keep spending on “nice to have projects”, and instead invest it into a capital improvement fund, aligned with a long term schedule of projects, so that we don’t have to keep going back to the voters every time we want to build a track, lunch room, or parking lot, and the funds are available without the need of bonds and interest.
Why don’t we finally once and for all have a real conversation about accepting, as most school districts do, corporate donations for a track and field, or for any facilities that would benefit our kids? Two years ago an attempt was made to initiate this discussion and Howard stated he would not support logos on school grounds. Others said they feared the “look” of advertising. Has anyone been to any other fields or tracks in any other school district? The reason they have tracks…. Goodyear, NIKE, Sullivan Tire and Pepsi. Meanwhile our kids are running down Coe Drive, and balls are hitting kids in the head on our over crowded fields.
In our district instead of a plan, each year a parade of people present what they want, and the board is left to figure out whom to say yes to, and whom to say no to. This unenviable position is not only unfair to any Board Member, but equally unfair to the administrators who are told to cut, then have to face their staff when “their” proposed cut or add is ignored. Did we already forget how last year Laura Rogers was told to cut some staff, only to have it put back in, and she was left to look the fool, and staff members experienced unnecessary stress thinking they were about to lose their job. More distressing is this process makes it impossible to allow any major projects to ever come to life.
There are tough questions that should be asked, and on January 13th you will have the opportunity to ask them. If you can not personally attend then write a letter. Write to wdifruscio@orcsd.org.
Any letter sent to Wendy the administrative assistant to Howard Colter, and addressed to the Board, will go to all Board members.
Are you ready to get involved? This is your budget and your election. I urge you to participate.
