More on the BOE Meeting: The Assembly and Personnel Cuts

First, the High School assembly, which I am glad was so widely covered by both Dan and Mark Spivey from the CN.

Obviously some parents (and perhaps students) felt uncomfortable with the event, the little that I know about it came from a neighbor that was concerned about what she knew about the assembly and the rest that I learned about this story came from being at the BOE meeting this past Tuesday, Dan and the newspaper. At the BOE meeting I did raise my neighbor's concern which was that there needed to be clarification about the kind of event that had taken place since the belief was that the event had been religious, clarifications were made by Dr. Bilal, this was appreciated but I also thought that better communications could had help avoid misunderstandings. By now, we have read how district officials denounced the criticism of those concerned with what they felt went on. Here the district, in my opinion, took the wrong turn. Why not just calm the concerns of those who raised the concerns in the first place? Just imagine how much better it would had been if instead of attacking those who are concerned the district had presented information on the event in a conciliatory manner. Anyway.

Next on this post is the personnel cuts and resources cuts that were said will take place in order to close the 4 million plus shortfall the district has:

Support Personnel (24) $2,130,000.00
Teachers - (12) $1,320,000.00
Administrators ( 7) $ 890,000.00
Supplies $ 400,000.00
Legal Aid $ 100,000.00
Utilities $ 100,000.00
Reduce EAP $ 40,000.00

The cuts above were presented via a powerpoint, it wasn't mentioned if the powerpoint would be made available on the district's website. It was also said that the interim superintendent is having talks with both unions, PEA (Teachers and Staff) and PASA (Administrators) to discuss all possibilities. What, when, and what the usual pattern is for budget cuts is yet to be made into a pattern that the public can easily follow, the way the budget is presented, this far, has always been rather fuzzy. It is time for the district to invest into a more transparent budget presentation process that can answer everyone's questions all at once rather than in such a choppy way.

And don't get me wrong, I appreciate the Business Department and having my questions get answers is deeply appreciated, but really, can we just get all information put together in one place, get a historic view on how the district has addressed budgets in the last couple of years, what personnel changes have been made in the recent years plus whatever else needs to be presented in order to make the budget a clear process for all involved? Is this such a difficult task?

To view how one other district presents its budget to its stakeholders, click HERE.