The Garden City Telegram
NEW E-Edition!
Subscription
Required
Add Your Comment | Read (1) Comments
Principal position reduced
Published 3/9/2010 in Local News
By MONICA SPRINGER
One elementary administrative position in USD 457 is being reduced because of the district's budget crisis.
The USD 457 Board of Education agreed not to renew Jennie Wilson Elementary School principal Bonita Green's contract for next school year.
Rick Atha, USD 457 superintendent, said her contract not being renewed was a budget decision and had nothing to do with her performance.
Green's position will be filled with another employee in the district, Atha said.
Atha was not available to comment this morning on how filling Green's position with another district employee would save the district money.
The board accepted the recommendation when it approved the consent agenda.
Green did not return a phone call seeking comment this morning.
The consent agenda also included a few other changes to building administrators.
Josh Guymon, currently full-time associate principal at Victor Ornelas Elementary School, will go from being full-time associate principal at Victor Ornelas to a half-time principal at Buffalo Jones Elementary School and a half-time principal at Victor Ornelas next year.
And Skyla Wehkamp, curently full-time associate principal at Florence Wilson Elementary School, will remain a half-time principal there and also be a half-time principal at Alta Brown Elementary School.
On Monday night, the board heard from Atha, who outlined the district's budget situation, the program budgeting process and the district budget committee's first meeting.
Last year, program budgeting cut about $1 million from the district's budget, and the board raising the mill levy also generated about $1 million.
This year's program budgeting slashed more than $1 million from next year's budget, and the board will again be asked to increase the mill levy, which would generate about $1 million.
Atha said after attending Saturday's legislative coffee and after hearing the governor's cuts last week, he's hopeful the Legislature will generate revenue instead of cut education more.
But if the Legislature does cut public education more, he said the district needs to have a plan in place.
The board did not take action on the program budgeting recommendations at Monday's meeting. Atha said the next step for the board is to consider the district budget committee's recommendations.
The committee was formed to generate ways to either raise money or cut expenses if the district faces between a $2 million and $6 million cut in next year's budget.
About 52 percent of the state's aid goes to school districts, and if the Legislature passes on 52 percent of their deficit to schools, Garden City could see a $6 million cut.
That's the worse-case scenario, Atha said.
"That could prove to be very devastating to the operation of our school district," Atha said.
Through program budgeting, about 25 positions will be eliminated. Atha has said that up to 50 positions could be eliminated through the district budget committee if the state cuts more in aid to education. He's also said that the positions will be eliminated through attrition when possible.
The district budget committee met once and will meet again at the end of March. Atha said it will take at least two more meetings for the committee to decide how to generate revenue and trim expenses. The committee's recommendations will then go to the board of education for final approval.
"Every cut is so painful," Atha said. "You can only go so far without ending up having a face-to-face conversation with people that they don't have a job. That's the most painful."
Atha said the school district needs every employee, from janitors and paraprofessionals to teachers.
"We didn't create this. We inherited this situation, and we've got to deal with it the best we can," he said.
Found 1 comment(s)!
"Need"
I am a retired teacher, and my mother was a teacher. When she started teaching, she was the only employee in the one room school house. She taught grades one through eight. She came to school early in the morning and started up the old heater. She cleaned the school. The students brought their lunches. So when you actually get down to it, all you REALLY NEED, is a teacher.
Posted by: Educator on 3/9/2010