Two part-time School District nurses were spared from the budget
ax Monday night as Morgan Hill School Board trustees voted 4-1 to
rescind the layoff notices issued to Gale Marshall and Elaine
Gomer.
Two part-time School District nurses were spared from the budget ax Monday night as Morgan Hill School Board trustees voted 4-1 to rescind the layoff notices issued to Gale Marshall and Elaine Gomer.
Board President George Panos did not attend the meeting due to a family bereavement. Trustee Del Foster voted against rescinding the notices.
Trustees have already cut nearly $900,000 from next year’s general operating budget and must cut approximately $700,000 more.
The board has been forced to make cuts of approximately $6.1 million in the past two years.
“We can’t afford to further whittle down health services in this district,” said Bonnie Parody, the one full-time district nurse. “We are barely able to safely comply now with every mandate.”
Districts must conduct health screenings every year for specified grades for hearing, vision and scoliosis under state law.
Cutting the two part-time positions would have cut $56,000 from next year’s budget; however, the mandated testing must still occur or the state will penalize the district financially.
“You’ve heard the saying, ‘a penny wise and a pound foolish,’” Gomer said. “You are already at your minimum staff ratio for a district of this size spread over 13 schools.”
Trustees spent more time discussing the elementary music program, however, than the district nursing positions.
The program was placed on the “consensus” list for cuts by the budget committee, consisting of representatives from the district’s three unions – teachers’, classified employees’ and administrators’ – and Superintendent Carolyn McKennan, Deputy Superintendent Bonnie Tognazzini, who is in charge of the business services department, and Assistant Superintendents Denise Tate and Claudette Beaty.
Cutting the elementary music program would cut $120,000 from the budget.
The program serves all fourth through sixth graders, with fourth graders studying general music while fifth and sixth graders may choose between chorus and band.
Last year, when the program needed $28,000 to continue or be cut, district booster clubs chipped in to keep the program alive. The Live Oak Emerald Regime boosters donated $18,000, while Britton and Martin Murphy Middle boosters contributed $5,000 each.
No decision was made Monday night; trustees asked for more information, and Trustees Jan Masuda and Shellé Thomas said the board needs to hear from the music teachers, from classroom teachers and from the union before a decision is made.
Foster said the board needs to weigh this issue carefully.
“The issue is, can we cut it without doing away with it,” he said. “It would be like cutting the marketing department; it could end up costing us more in the long run.”
He said parents could opt to send their students to private schools that have music programs.
“We have looked at an afterschool program, and there is not sufficient attendance,” he said. “In the past, there has been no desire by the board to look at pull-out programs. The issue to me is how many students would we lose because there are other options out there.”
The board needs to consider many options, Foster said.
“We need to get the message to the community, we need to re-evaluate the program,” he said. “For example, we could consider just a choral program … we’d maybe get a better program, a lot less disruptive than the cacophony of instruments that goes on in some elementary programs.”
The only other budget-related item trustees acted on Monday night was the filing fee for School Board candidates. With four seats up for election in November, the fee increase per candidate from $650 to $1,800 would impact the general fund if trustees had not voted 5-0 to discontinue the practice of paying for filing fees.
Trustees must approve a budget for next year by the end of June. They have a meeting schedule June 28 for final budget decisisons. A special meeting has been called for Monday. Classified workers’ hours will be on the chopping block as trustees consider $56,000 in cuts.
