Hi Everyone,
I've mostly been lurking since the school year started because I've just been too busy, but I couldn't let this topic slip by without saying something. Perhaps this is more advice to the SPPS school board than anything.
As you may know, I teach in Minneapolis, a district that is in its fifth year of $20 million plus budget cuts (over $110 million in four years). And things have gotten particularly ugly in the last year. This is largely because of the lack of blunt, honest conversation with teachers and other school staff about the complexities and the potential fall-out of the situation. Our district offices really bungled the lay-offs and realignments last spring and summer and most of us in the district are still in response and recovery mode, making it a very diffcult school year.
Cutting money from budgets in any organization, public or private, is painful, but the need to respect the professionals impacted by the cuts is paramount. Remember, next to the families, schools would not exist nor more importantly succeed without dedicated staff.
It will be interesting to see how differently SPPS responds to their financial situation than MPS did. My advice, learn from the weaknesses across the river.
Brionna Harder Cathedral Hill
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