Zooming in on draft school cuts

The draft cuts proposed by Shoreline School District officials for the 2006-07 school year look dramatic enough on paper. The proposal calls for reducing over 40 teaching positions, along with sports programs, assistant principals, library staff and more.

Still, the actual effects of the proposed cuts — which aim to save the district $4.7 million and pull it out of the red — may not be widely understood.

If finalized, the cuts could hit high school clubs and other activities, class sizes, campus security, special education, science lab equipment and more.

A host of teachers, students, parents and district employees spoke at the district’s April 3 School Board meeting to make some of those possible impacts clear.

That public input, and future public comment, will play a role in revising the proposal into a final 2006-07 budget.

High School Activities

First, the district’s proposal eliminates activity coordinators, one at Shorecrest High School and one at Shorewood High School. That’s left many wondering what will happen to high school clubs, dances, associated student body, or ASB, assemblies and other activities.

“Students, staff and parents have approached me concerned,” said Britt Harris, activity coordinator at Shorecrest High School, at the April 3 meeting. “The first question on everyone’s mind is, ‘Who is going to do your job?’”

Harris manages ASB, teaching a leadership class to 48 students. She plans assemblies, dances, homecoming, elections and graduation. She manages an ASB budget of over $1 million and helps the school’s 56 clubs and sports teams run fund raisers under complex legal regulations.

She also plans freshman orientation, meets weekly with club advisors, coordinates school building rental and more.

A handful of Shorecrest students spoke at the meeting and sent letters to the Board arguing that the position is essential.

“To continue to provide quality activities, it is essential that there is a central position that focuses on the planning, organization and execution of these activities,” said Ikenna Acholonu, Shorecrest’s ASB president.

The draft proposal also cuts the assistant principal position at each high school, adding a 1.4 full-time equivalent Dean of Students position to take up some of the slack.

Liz Wells, the district’s director of Human Resources, said that .8 of those hours will probably be spent at Shorewood High School and .6 at Shorecrest, which is smaller.

“The main activity of the (dean) would be management and student discipline,” she said. “The job responsibilities are not finalized.”

When asked if the new position would fill in for the activity coordinator, Wells said: “It’s not sure yet. It’s possible. “

BRITE program

The BRITE program, which works with 22 special education students with behavior problems at Syre Elementary School, would also be hit if the cuts are finalized.

The program offers behavior management, social skills instruction, group and individual therapy and academic and remedial instruction. The staff intervenes physically when students turn aggressive.

The draft proposal eliminates the program lead position now held by Kye Hong. Hong coordinates staff, works with parents, helps with behavior interventions and is the gatekeeper for referrals into the program, among many other tasks.

The lead would be reassigned to other duties in the district, Wells said. The program currently has seven staff members.

“The ramifications are frightening,” said a mother at the April 3 meeting. Her son is in the program. “You talk about safety, you talk about security.”

The program has changed her son’s life, she added.

BRITE staff members, in a letter to district officials, said that losing the lead could erode the program and create a ripple effect at Syre.

“The BRITE team has heard from numerous teachers at Syre (with) memories of the chaos and crisis they witnessed without a fully supported BRITE program,” the letter says.

Before the position was created, for example, the Syre principal was frequently called to help manage aggressive student behavior, the letter adds.

The loss of the BRITE program lead isn’t the only hit special education would take if the cuts become final.

Proposed for elimination are six full-time equivalent certified special education positions throughout the district. That’s offset by a proposed additional 10 hours a day of non certified staffing.

Security

Two security monitors at each of the district’s two high schools currently work to prevent and react to disruptions and dangerous events. Under the draft cuts, one security monitor would be cut from each high school.

Michael Sherry, a security monitor with the district since 1993, argued that two monitors can prevent events, while one can only react.

“The model seeks to prevent. If we react, it’s too late,” he said at the meeting.

Monitors work to prevent fights, bullying, loitering, attacks, intruders on campus and more.

Officer Rob Bardsley, the school resource officer for both schools, cited the number of police reports for both schools at the meeting: 142 last year and 115 so far this year.

“My concern is if you cut the security, these will go up,” he said.

Paper, glue, scissors

Consumable building budgets, which include money for supplies like paper, glue, paint, band-aids, crayons and science lab supplies, are proposed to be cut by 20 percent in the draft proposal.

The budget for science lab supplies is already threadbare, said Kathy Ellingson, Shorecrest science department chair, at the meeting.

“My budget is gone already (this year),” she said. “It’s $9,000. That is 20 cents a week per student.”

Building budgets are on the chopping block, but there’s not much to cut, she said.

It’s not been decided how the building budget cuts would be apportioned out, Wells said.

Nurses

Nancy Dalan is the nurse at Shorecrest High School. She, like her counterpart at Shorewood, works eight hours a day. The draft proposal calls for cutting the hours of both nurses to six hours a day.

“If I come in at 8 (a.m.) and leave at 2:30 (p.m.), I don’t want to think about what you’ll ask me not to do,” Dalan said.

Students usually come to see her before 7:30 a.m. about serious issues to catch her early, before her day takes off, she said.

“The number of students with severe medical conditions increases every year,” she said. “Mental illnesses increase every year.”

In addition, Dalan comes in at 6 a.m. because it’s the only time she can do state-required paperwork, she said.

Public comment

There’s still time for public comment on these and other proposed cuts.

Shoreline School District officials are studying suggestions made at public meetings in March and will present a second draft of the proposal April 24.

The second phase of public input kicks in at meetings April 26 and the first week of May. A revised budget based on that input will be presented to the School Board in June, with a final budget approved in August.