In the second-to-last regular board meeting before mandatory
layoffs are announced March 15, a trove of speakers turned out to
plea against the possible elimination of preparatory physical
education and music programs.
Many of them were less than 5 feet tall.
In the second-to-last regular board meeting before mandatory layoffs are announced March 15, a trove of speakers turned out to plea against the possible elimination of preparatory physical education and music programs.
Many of them were less than 5 feet tall.
“Elementary kids need P.E.,” said a small girl as she addressed the audience with microphone in hand, Thursday night at Gilroy Unified School District at 7810 Arroyo Circle. “Half of the high schoolers do not like P.E.”
The room erupted in laughter, shortly followed by applause.
“He keeps us from being fat,” said another young boy as he candidly came to the defense of Pat Vickroy, a P.E. teacher at four GUSD elementary schools who has led the local charge to improve student health. “You should keep P.E. for everybody, because we all like it.”
For another consecutive turn in what’s been a series of revisions, GUSD trustees mulled over two pages of proposed budget reduction options.
One page represents $2.8 million in cuts if temporary tax extensions are passed in a special June election.
The second page lists $7.3 million in cuts; the required amount that will have to be slashed if tax extensions aren’t passed.
A hot item on the second page was the possible elimination of music and P.E. at the elementary level, a move GUSD Board President Rhoda Bress reminded the audience was on the second page of the proposed cuts – the “worst case” scenario.
“The best way we can get rid of this second page is getting on the ballot the extension of these tax hikes,” she explained, urging attendants to lobby their local legislators.
“The worse case scenario will only come to pass if voters fail to pass the governor’s proposal,” echoed trustee Jaime Rosso. “That’s the essence of what we’re talking here.”
Other sensitive subjects brought up by audience members included administrative mileage and cell phone stipends, the brand new charter school set to open next fall and the request for equal cuts at the secondary school level – not just the elementary level.
“Right now, it’s a bleed; $600,000 is going out with six teachers,” said an Eliot Elementary School teacher of the brand new Gilroy Prep School. “Good idea, wrong time.”
Another teacher asked administrators to forgo academic and mileage stipends.
“At least until this crisis ends,” she said.
Trustee Tom Bundros said the district’s cell phone plan for administrators costs $6,000, and is designated as part of a safety program. He also explained every employee in the district is eligible for mileage.
“If we were to make that a manual process for people that were driving a lot,” he said, referring to administrators who make multiple trips throughout the day, “we’d have to hire more people” at the clerical level to process it.
Michelle Nelson, president of the Gilroy Teacher’s Association, brought this subject up in a Feb. 28 e-mail. She explained teachers must log their mileage, where as administrators “receive a flat car allowance and no accounting required or even requested.”
There was good news in the meeting, too.
Kirsten Perez, director of Fiscal Services for GUSD, recently learned about $500,000 in reallocated federal stimulus funds which did not get used in the 2008-09 fiscal year will be redistributed back to schools within the district.
AdvancePath, an alternative education program that may have been on the chopping block, also had its contract renewed for another two years.
Budget discussions eventually ended with Bress concluding it will take more time to digest everything that had been brought to the table.
As for the timeline, Flores explained the board must to take final action on undecided items such as across-the-board salary cuts, class size increases, program elimination and furlough days by next Thursday.
“If you don’t cut something here, you’re going to have to cut it there,” said Rosso. “There’s going to be pain. Everybody is concerned about equity and fairness in what is being recommended. We’re investigating those things, and trying to find ways to make it fair.”
