Me and the Mrs. enjoyed a nice after-church lunch today with friends. She's a teacher in GC and yes Gains, she does live in Edwardsville.
Short sidebar here: Red Lobster pricing has gone crazy.
Conversations led to the public hearing the teachers are conducting this Tuesday night. While she wasn't privy to what all will be presented, here are some of the thoughts she and some of her colleagues have discussed regarding the district finances.
1.) Apparently there is a substantial amount of money in the special education fund that has accumulated for years. She said it could be a million dollars. She and her friends would like to see that money go toward teacher raises arguing, "this is new money and therefore would not further contribute to the deficit."
2.) They recommend contracting out janitorial and cafeteria services. The idea of course is to save what she estimates at least a half a million.
3.) Split administrative time. Follow me here. In small schools, use a half time principal each day. Her example: Principal a half day schedule at Worthen and a half day at Maryville. She also talked about splitting time of assistants at Grigsby and Coolidge.
4.)Someone clarify this if you know about it. One of her colleagues wants to see school in session Monday through Thursday. The buildings would be closed completely Friday through Sunday. She thinks that will save money. I asked her what about the added burden of day care on parents, the loss of after school activity time M-Th. No response. Deer, meet headlights.
She brought up a couple of more ideas but this is already too long. Any thoughts about any of her/their ideas?