Positions will be lost, but some replacements will come from within District

The South Lane School Board spent the early part of its regular session Monday night debating the value of the math curriculum. Elementary schools were scoring higher than the state average on math tests, while middle schools were below but climbing.

The importance of math, especially subtraction and division, was proved later in the meeting as Superintendent Krista Parent took board members and a room filled with concerned public and faculty through proposed reductions for the remainder of the 2008-2009 school year.

To cover a deficit of $780,310 the district will be eliminating some positions, but will work on shuffling current faculty and retirees to fill in where they would normally hire a replacement.

For instance, while the current Bohemia Elementary P.E. teacher is on leave, her position will be filled with a retired instructor rather than hire a substitute.

Positions eliminated from the budget include a custodian and one of the campus security guards at Cottage Grove High School, as well as a musical accompanist who shares time between the high school and Lincoln Middle School.

Spring athletics will also face cuts, but they will not be eliminated entirely. There will be two baseball and two softball coaches, but assistant coaches will need to be on a volunteer basis for the spring season.

The pre-school classes at London and Dorena schools were also eliminated, as were the Studio Classrooms, which had their start in the 2007-2008 school year.

Contributing the greatest savings to the budget is a reduction to three days of district staff.

Parent said that she had received recommendations from employees throughout the district and together they decided that they would rather reduce everyone than lose any full staff positions.

Unlicensed staff has already agreed to the measure, but licensed faculty and staff will need to go through the Oregon Education Association, the union that represents licensed faculty throughout the state. To enact the reduction the union has to agree to reopen the contract.

Although the union has yet to officially reopen the contract, 90 percent of the licensed staff in the District has already stated that they approve the three-day reduction, said Parent.

The next regular session of the Lane Unified Bargaining Council is at the end of January, but a letter has already been sent to request an emergency meeting.

“If we don’t get the three-day, we’re coming back,” said Parent.

The Board met the proposed reductions with resignation, all of them thanking the district staff for their work on the proposal.

The reduction list was passed with a majority approval. Vice Chair Cheryl Mueller opposed the motion, stating that she was against the closure of the pre-schools and the moving around of kindergarten faculty and students to cover classroom shortages.

“I hate this,” Mueller said. “I know we all do … I really want to protect the quality of education.”

Board chair Jim Goes likened the list to “being nibbled to death by ducks,” but said that while the proposal is painful, it’s realistic.

Parent agreed.

“Any extra we can save this year will make it a little less painful next year,” she said.