Teachers address board

Published 11:15 am Friday, February 22, 2008

The Shoreline School Board of Directors and Superintendent Jim Welsh were faced with “the last straw” at the March 3 meeting.

With standing room only, parents, teachers and community members concerned with the recent announcements regarding layoffs and further budget cuts in the Shoreline school district, voiced their concerns.

Those concerns, they explained, are preceded by last year’s $1.3 million deficit and this year’s $7 million in budget cuts that have left teachers scrambling for adequate supplies and teaching crowded classrooms.

Shorewood biology and physical science teacher Paul Witt summed up their feelings about further cutbacks with a recent example.

Last week, Witt had his students participate in a lab that required ping-pong balls, funnels, and straws. The straws were cut to be used as mouthpieces for the students, and could not be reused.

“There were enough straws for my class, but by the time I passed on the ping-pong balls and funnels to the next teacher, there was only one straw left. The teacher had to demonstrate the lab with the last straw while the students watched,” Witt explained.

“When I was young I was taught to save for a rainy day. It’s pouring and we’re down to the last straw.”

Another community member addressed the issue of the district announcing it may have to lay off as many as 43 teaching positions.

“I think this is very sad,” she said. “If we are going to cut anything, let’s let teachers be the last thing on our list.”

After listening to the community’s comments, Welsh held strong to his previous message: “We are in difficult times, and we all know it,” he said. “We still have a long road to go, and we can’t be thinking we’re already at the last straw. We have two more drafts of the budget to get through … and when it comes to losing teachers, we’ll do everything we can to prevent that.”

Education Association president Cheryl Ricevuto rebutted Welsh’s statement, explaining that after the $7 million cuts that were made last year, “there is very little trust that (the district budget advisory committee) will come up with fair and appropriate parameters for the budget.”

The budget advisory committee will be meeting this week to continue discussions and prepare for the next draft of the budget which is due out this month, officials said.