Yesterday in our PTO mail, we received an annonymous letter regarding proposed budget cuts.Someone took a memo from the super's office and copied it and mailed it to every PTO in the district. I would love to shake that person's hand. Under the proposal, our district will be cutting 15 teachers, all para pros, 3 special ed aides, a counselor, a social worker, and a speech therapist. As well as 6 custodians, 5 secretaries, and ALL bussing for 7-12 grades no matter how far away they live! And our super makes $2000 less a year than our governor. All summer school programs are on the block and all in district field trips as well as ALL clubs k-12. The vote is next week, and the public was not informed of this at all! We are getting groups together to go the next board of ed meeting to protest. There has got to be a better way. I took the letter to our principal and asked her how much of it was true and she said all of it. I am seriously disappointed in our district for even considering this without a public discussion, especially since these cuts affect every child in the district in one way or another.

You are so welcome C. Brooks.
Our teachers and support staff were just added to our state's critical list for not having a contract for over 18 months. It's a very tense situation and the real problem is that the union won't release info, even to their own members, about their demands. Most teachers are in the dark about what they are asking for.
We continue to support our teachers and to not get involved in the politics of the whole thing.
It can be very frustrating and we are losing teachers already because of it. We have been very blessed to have some of the most incredible teachers in the world, so hopefully all will be settled soon and everyone can get back to the normal.

I put this in "Social" because it affects my life in many ways. I really need to vent.

I have been on the sub aide list for 4 years now. When I first got on I worked alot. Then the budget crisis rumors started circling. About two years ago I talked to a Board of Ed member. There were several on the sub aide list, they easily make enough money to pay a full time classified person or a part time certified person, I think. I loved my job but honestly I felt I did more and got more accomplished on the days I volunteered (perhaps that is ONE reason I stopped getting called). She said she really didn't think they could do anything about transferring those funds because subs get paid from the Title I grant. We are the only county around that has sub aides. When our new Supt from a neighboring county came in I expected the sub aide jobs to cease. He didn't do anything but now...

I don't suppose it would be appropriate to call our governor an idiot, so I won't. He has proposed a 3% increase for teacher salaries (and they deserve it). He also proposes to drastically cut education funding. This proposal on top of the Presidents budget added with the NCLB Act has our low income struggling school districts in a panic. Now our district is talking about doing away with sub aides and sub teachers. Doing away with sub teachers can cause many problems. I have worked at the high school many times during sub shortages. Students miss out on valuable intstructional time plus they get a little...rowdy due to their schedules being topsy turvey. Even big kids need a routine. I hate to see this happen. I hope that our reps in Frankfort will see the impact budget cuts will have on our children and our communities.

We have a population of about 10,000 people in our county. Our school system employees approximately 500 people. There is a Board of Ed meeting tonight. I will be unable to go. I wished I could. This whole thing is very nerve racking. On top of that I only need to finish this semester and two more classes in order to be able to sub teach. Since I rarely get called for sub aide anymore due to new people on the list I was really looking forward to sub teaching. Aides get their own subs, experience and education does not play a role in who they choose. The teachers have a contact that gets sub teachers for them. The contact is very fair, she has to look for certified teachers first then she goes down the list. She takes experience and education into consideration and I think she tries to make sure everyone gets a chance to work some.

I was hoping to work in ESS next year also. Our ESS has already been cut to two days. If things do not change we will not have an ESS program at all. For some children that is the only help get with their homework and some children need that little bit of one on one time with somebody. I am not sure where the Governor wants the money to go he is taking away from education, I think he has took enough money away from our tobacco farmers (that is KY's number one legal cash crop) to do whatever he needs to do. There has already been a big deal over health insurance and many teachers in the state threatened to strike (their insurance coverage sucks). If this keeps up we could have MAJOR crisis. Also our minimum wage is going up. In two years it will be over $7.00. I only make $6.11 right now and they can barely pay that. Where is this money supposed to come from? AAAUUGGHH! I am not a very political person but when politics are going to be the downfall of my children's well being, I tend to get upset.

Thank you for cyber listening! I feel a little better now.