Staff address school board about possible job cuts
By Jessica Groover .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
More than half of the speakers at the public hearing at the Cabarrus County Board of Education’s business meeting Monday night were teachers.
The board invited the community to address the 2009-10 budget for county schools. For the teachers, the primary concern was to ask the board to avoid cutting personnel and salaries.
Libby Fitzwater, who spoke on behalf of the Cabarrus County Association of Teacher Assistants, reminded the board of the jobs the teacher assistants perform and asked that they not be included in future budget cuts.
“We’re no longer paper pushers,” Fitzwater said. “We directly affect the education of our students, especially the ones that fall beneath the cracks. Taking teacher assistants out of classrooms will affect the children’s education.”
As a way to avoid cutting teacher assistants, Fitzwater offered two suggestions — having teacher assistants drive school buses and having them take off some of the 14 planning days without pay.
Three teachers spoke as a part of the Cabarrus Education Association. Veronica Cowart, the group’s president, thanked the board for not cutting personnel during past cuts. She and Annette York, a member, said they hoped for no cuts to personnel or teacher salaries.
Jane Spainhour, a teacher at Concord Middle School, requested the board consider the diversity of each school and reminded members that every school is different.
Two parents, Amanda Turney and Teresa Stern, spoke about concerns they have regarding their children and the schools they attend. Turney asked that the board consider the $6,500 playground at Coltrane-Webb Elementary School.
Turney said her daughter has special needs and is unable to participate in many activities at recess, but having a swing set at Coltrane-Webb would change that.
“It would be a great opportunity for her to play with her friends at recess,” Turney said.
Board member Carolyn Carpenter mentioned Turney’s request later in the meeting during a review of the draft of the 2009-10 budget.
“Whatever you’ve got left, give that little girl a swingset,” Carpenter said.
Joe Sides, director of facilities for the school system, said they would look into it.
The hearing was a way for the community to address the board about concerns. Ronnye Boone, public relations director for the school system, said the board will factor them into the decisions about the budget. She referred to the comments board members had said about the playground at Coltrane-Webb.
“It sounds like they’re already trying to find ways to get that in the budget,” Boone said.
Cabarrus County Schools has been asked to cut its budget three times this school year and is anticipating trimming the state money by three to seven percent.
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