![[Spencer Daily Reporter nameplate]](http://www.spencerdailyreporter.com/images/nameplate.png)
RSS
Print
Email link
Respond to editor
Read comments (14)
Share link
Facebook
Twitter
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Technorati
Newsvine
Reddit
Google
While the initial recommendation from district officials is for a minimum of $350,000 to be slashed, they're also indicating that amount could easily rise to $500,000.
A portion of this decision will rely on what the allowable growth rate for next year is set at.
"My concern for next year is if we're going to see our allowable growth rate trimmed back by the legislators. Whether it is or not, they've promised 4 percent right now -- which, for Spencer, equates to about $290,000-some of new dollars," Superintendent Greg Ebeling said. " ... The rumors now are they're going to go to 1 percent for next year. That will create the need to trim more of these packages if it goes that low."
As of Friday afternoon, 31 staff and community members had signed up to serve on a volunteer budget reduction committee for the district. They included: Melissa Busch, Julie Carlson, Becky Conley, Susan Coulander, Cindy Glover, John Goede, Alison Herman, Dave Hessman, Amanda Hoffman, Rob Kluender, Charles Knipe, Carolyn Kruger, Sharon Lindemann, Linda Linn, Vanessa Moore, Rick Munday, Judith Olson, Janice Orr, Dixie Orthel, Loren Reit, Jack Ryan, Julie Schmidt, Roger Schulke, Kurt Schwarck, Doug Siepkes, Mary Jo Smith, Darrel Stoll, Steve Sundblad, Jim Tighe, Bill Zinn and John Zulk.
This group, along with Spencer school board members and anybody else who'd like to attend Monday's meeting in conference room B of the district's central office, located at 23 E. Seventh St., will learn about the upcoming budget-reduction process, how their participation fits into it and have their questions answered.
"If somebody wants to come on Monday night and be a part of it, certainly they can. But, the only way they're really going to get input is to fill out the prioritization activity. And that takes some effort," Ebeling said. " ... Their input is going to be there, but it's not going to be very loud if they don't actually fill out and do the input process."
The volunteer committee members will meet again the evening of Feb. 2, and be asked to complete a prioritization activity of the "additional" budget packages by Feb. 9. Along with a district administrative recommendation, their input will be compiled and presented as a composite ranking to Spencer school board members.
"Last time, we went to the School Improvement Advisory Committee and the Employee Relations Group and got input directly from them. This time, we opened it up to anybody who wanted to take part," Ebeling said. " ... This is what the board wants."
Board members are scheduled to review the rankings received from this committee and district administrators during a 5:30 p.m. work session on Feb. 19. The board's prioritized list of "additional" budget packages to be cut will then be shared with the public during a 10 a.m. public hearing set for Saturday, Feb. 21.
"The trick will be for the board to decide how much is going to have to be reduced," Ebeling said. " ... It will all depend upon what ends up being their final priority list and where the line is drawn in terms of the total dollar amount that needs to be reduced."
2009-10 Spencer School Additional Budget Packages
| Title | 2008-09 Total Package Cost | Notes |
| One varsity assistant SHS football coach salary | $4,174 | |
| One SHS assistant track coach salary | $4,174 | |
| Two assistant boys and girls tennis coach stipends | $3,477 | |
| Two SMS basketball coach salaries | $4,174 | |
| SMS and SHS mock trial coach salaries | $4,174 | This would eliminate this extracurricular program. |
| One debate coach salary | $5,564 | This would eliminate this extracurricular program. |
| Boys swimming coach stipend and YMCA pool rental | $6,044 | This would eliminate this program; equalizing athletic events offered for boys and girls. |
| Half salary and benefits for SHS Assistant Principal and Activities Director | $97,150 | Would require one person to assume responsibilities for both. |
| Assistant Superintendent | $25,070 | Difference between salary and benefits of a curriculum director and assistant superintendent. |
| K-12 Literary Specialist | $73,986 | |
| Four drivers' salaries and fuel/maintenance expenses for buses | $27,229 | For in-town students living more than 6 blocks from school for November 2009 through March 2010. |
| Four drivers' salaries and fuel/maintenance expenses for buses | $25,157 | For in-town students living more than 6 blocks from school for August through October 2009 and April, May 2010. |
| One full-time maintenance person | $43,955 | |
| One elementary teacher | $40,799 | To be based on class size. |
| One elementary teacher | $62,174 | To be based on class size. |
| Elementary summer (at-risk) school | $20,339 | Teacher stipends for two-week school. About 250 students involved with this program. |
| SMS music and elementary band instructor realignment | $60,414 | Half-time position to teach music as an exploratory class in SMS and provides salary, benefits for half-time elementary band instructor position. |
| SMS summer (at-risk) school | $2,107 | Teacher stipends for two-week school. About 30 students involved with this program. |
| SMS and SHS art/family consumer science/physical education relocation of duties | $70,661 | Would replace one full-time family consumer science position with existing staff. Move art teacher to half-time art, half-time physical education position. Move SMS family consumer science teacher to teach half-time at SMS and SHS. SHS PE staff would pick up health curriculum. |
| Half-time SHS math teacher and half-time alternative school teacher | $39,156 | |
| One SHS science teacher | $60,780 | |
| Half-time SHS business teacher | $33,210 | |
| SHS social studies teacher | $54,062 | |
| Half-time vocational-ag instructor and FFA sponsor | $32,616 | A shared program would need to be sought. |
| SHS German ICN program | $22,629 | Would become an elective course. Reduction would limit foreign-language offerings to Spanish. |
========================================
$823,185
Listed alphabetically in terms of areas represented within the Spencer school district.
Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please
This is very interesting. I am a retired teacher in Ontario, Canada. How can you "cut" literacy teachers? Or any program for kids? In Ontario, provincial taxes pay for schools, so much a 'head.' Teachers supervise extracurricular activities (coaching etc) as part of their job. Not paid. But your budget is very transparent, and that is impressive. Salaries look decent. Cut out the sports as paid and keep the music. Good luck.
This is an e-mail from Dresden, Germany, from Frau Herhold, the English teacher, who has been visiting together with groups of students Spencer High School regularly in every second year since 1992 when our permanent school exchange program started. Since then 242 students from Spencer and Dresden have been given the chance to get to know each other personally and to learn from each other successfully in a unique intercultural challenge called GAPP (German American Partnership Program). Each June of the even years the Spencer "German students" were visiting Dresden while the Dresden students were visiting SHS each October in return.
As the coordinator of the student exchange I am deeply concerned about the announced budget cuts especially in the field of teaching German to Spencer students which has been a long tradition in SHS. We do not understand why teaching German is questioned at all. How can you even think about cutting such an important academic program ? We in Germany teach our students several foreign languages, English is compulsory, French, Russian, Spanish and Latin are optional. Students can learn up to three foreign languages at one and the same time. We understand that as an urgent necessity at the age of globalization.
I am one of the "GAPPER"s and took part in the program last year. During our stay we also had the chance to visit the German lessons and to talk to the students. We were really shocked when we were in the ICN room and tried to learn German in this (for us Germans) unusual way. I've been talking to the students a lot and they all told me that they really want to learn German and that they would prefere a teacher much more.
We did everything we were able to do in Spencer and now back in Dresden we hear that German should be cut down! I don't understand why things like that can happen, why the students don't get the chance to learn German!
And who knows if the GAPP project will still go on without German being taught in SHS?
I am one of the German students who have been to Spencer High last autumn, too. Even before, mainly while and also after our stay our teacher Mrs Herhold has done everything that was possible to make German stay in SHS students' schedules. No one is confident and happy with the solution with the ICN system, we all have surely found this out when we visited the ICN lessons. So I want to stand up for a German teacher for Spencer High School for the next years, too. I had just an amazing and awesome time in your beautiful lovely little town and such a funny and good time in the High School. I have made great experiences that I will never forget. I have found new friends and got to know a new country. But the German American Partnership Program GAPP is not possible without German lessons!
I have a little sister who is 12 years old now and I could not think of something more nicer than to imagine and better to be sure that she will visit this wonderful place, too, that I fell in love with last year.
I hope this vision will come true and I also hope that Mrs Herhold's effort will have a sucessful ending.
Mr. Mueting: Please do not let them cut money for the ICN program, but give your students a German teacher back so that they have the cance to learn my language - and to learn it properly, not like they do it with the ICN system.
Lisa Brueckner from Dresden
I am a member of the last GAPP exchange and I completely agree with Lisa. I was allowed to use that amazing possibilty of living with our host families and I was able to experience an other way of live.
And I have to say that I was deeply impressed by the will of all the students who still want to learn german although the given circumstances are everything but the best ones. Nobody is able to learn a foreign language properly by using this ICN techniques.
So please, do not ruin their chances to learn want they do want to learn! And I would like to add that the GAPP exchange won t survive without german lessons. But I should like to emphasise that our German American Partnership Program is too unique to give it up!!
And I really very hope that you will make a sensible decision!
Nina Püschel
Sheesh! Is this going to be an annual thing for the Spencer School system? What's going to be left for extracurricular activities in a few years at this rate?
I am also one of the German students, who visited Spencer last year within the bounds of the GAPP Project. It was just a amazing trip and I want to go back to the USA as fast as possible.
But now after I read the article, I am really concerned about the persistence of the German American Partnership Program (GAPP). When budget for the German ICN Room is cut, there will be no German any more at SHS. But the knowledge of this language is essential for the GAPP Program. When German dies at SHS, this would be probably the end for this successful and traditional program. There will be no school exchanges any more.
Why this unique chance to visit a foreign country shall be wasted? It enrichs both sides!
Let them cut it. The only German words anyone needs to know are "Das Boot."
Just a thought, but why doesn't some of the cuts involve teacher's aides??? Now don't get me wrong, I don't have my head in the sand but why so many teacher's aides. I attended school in the mid 60's to late 70's and we didn't have any teachers aides in any of my classes. When I was a senior or junior we had a class (actually got a grade on) that we went into some of the elementary grades and helped the teacher for that full hour. The teacher gave us the assignments and we did them. Most days it was to take the students that were struggling with reading, math or whatever and we sat in the back of the room and helped them. I believe it created good for all involved. For the upper classman it helped decided if teaching was something we were interested in or not, we could also be a mentor to the younger classes, and I believe the younger students looked at us as mentors and created somewhat of a bond with the students and the teachers. I think if we take some of the study halls out of the 8 hour day and actually made these students do something rather than sit in the lunch room and play football or listen to their ipods they may get better state test scores.
I know that times have change and students are different than when I went to school, there is more acting out of students, more drugs etc, but I am not so sure that preschool students need all the TA's and perhaps students 6 grade and under probably don't need all those TA's.
Perhaps look at making a change like that instead of doing away with swimming, music etc. Just an idea
You may be on to something there, allaboard. I guess I was not even aware that all of the classes had teacher's aides. My son is in a special needs classroom and they are definitely necessary in that situation, but I don't see the necessity of having them in "regular" classes. Is there any way to find out how many aides the school system employs and how many are in each classroom?
PhMcS I believe there is a way to find out how many aides are in the school. I think that is public knowledge. But the last time I counted there was I believe (if I am not mistaken)there was between 20-30. Now I think that is a little overboard as far as I am concerned. I can understand having them where they need them, students with special needs, and maybe in the higher grades just because of the range of students behaviors, but I don't believe we need them in the younger grades. To me classroom sizes are not any larger than when I was in school and we just had one teacher. Now I am not saying anything against the teachers in any way shape or form, but with the aides in their classes all the time, seems like the teachers have more time on their hands. They have teachers aides in PRESCHOOL! That I feel is way out of line and not necessary. I believe they have aides for nearly every grade and they have recently hired more. I am not sure if they are replacing ones that have quit or if they are adding to the pool. But the bottom line I feel is that there is no need for teacher's aides in all classrooms. Plus they make roughly 10.00/hr. If you want to look anyone can go on the spencer community school website and go into the board of education and read the minutes etc. My belief is that there is a place where some of the cuts could take place.
Your guess is low allaboard. I believe there's like 100 or more TA's.
ElTigre~ You maybe right I know there are TA's that are TA's and then they also have other duties such as media etc. But if that is the case that their are 100, then I rest my case, because that is to many TA's as far as I am concerned. That is a waste of money. I have worked in the school systems and I have worked in the medical field where there are Nurse Aides. They have even done away with many of the nurse aides other than in long term care facilities and other facilities where there are behavior issues or other demands. Nurse aides used to work in the hospitals much of the time, that now for the most part is gone and those duties are now the nurses. So my point again is....put the TA's where they are really needed, like special needs children, and other classes where there the REALLY a need, and put some the of the responsiblility back where it needs to be. Granted those TA's would be out of a job and I sympathize with that but if budgets need to be cut, lets just not look at sports etc, lets look at TA's.
allaboard, I agree that too many teachers' aides are a problem. Aides in the upper elementary- well, even 1 through 5- seem unnecessary. I agree that high school students could be utilized in these situations. However, I am currently a substitute teacher, and have been an aide in previous years. I very much disagree with you that it is ridiculous to have aides in preschool or kindergarten. In my experience, that is when aides are most useful. A group of strong-willed 4-6 year olds is much more difficult to rein in than a bunch of fourth graders. Often, children in these classes break up into "centers", "stations", or various groups of some sort. Monitoring students in several groups around the classroom can be difficult. Not to mention that these "centers" often incorporate group play as a part of the curriculum. Also, in the classrooms I have worked in, it is usually the aide's responsibility to help focus the attention of these younger students while the actual teacher is doing the teaching of letters, numbers, etc. Older students are better equipped to focus than such young children, so it is my opinion that many times, preschool and kindergarten are the only age groups that come close to NEEDING aides. The school district should definitely look at using high school students or simply making cuts in aides for upper elementary, middle school, and high school. At the very least, these grades could share aides and use them during the parts of their day that most require assistance. In addition, I feel that this takes much less away from the educational experience of children than cutting music or sports. (Although, I am a certified music teacher looking for a job in that field, so I may be just a little biased! :) )