EDITOR: I believe that the school board and the Live Oak High
School administration should give their collective attention to the
words of Brooke Bailey (letter Jan. 28) Dan Wilkinson (letter March
11) and Glen Webb.
EDITOR:
I believe that the school board and the Live Oak High School administration should give their collective attention to the words of Brooke Bailey (letter Jan. 28) Dan Wilkinson (letter March 11) and Glen Webb.
Now that we know that layoffs are coming, decisions must be made. Some 25 percent of teachers face the budget ax. There is one thing that will not change next September, there will be a full compliment of students. There will be no pink slips for them. These students will need teachers. They also will need support personnel.
A number of questions come to mind – instead of starting the job cuts with the least senior teachers, why not start at the top of the administration chain? How many cuts in administration would it take to save all the teachers’ jobs? How many administrative jobs can be consolidated and still keep our teachers at work?
What about all administrators and school board members taking a voluntary pay cut to keep our teachers on the job? Could the school district save money by not building the so-called “Sobrato” school? Why build a school while cutting teaching jobs?
The school board seems to have a case of tunnel vision with regards to current economics! The current recession is still ongoing and the bottom is not yet within sight! Most IRA’s and college trust funds have lost 40-70 percent of their 1999 value. Even 401k’s are close to their end. The stock market is a lean and lonely place for investors. Unemployment is on the rise and so are taxes if some politicians have their way. Our state and nation are both deeply in debt.
Elected officials have been entrusted with certain important basic functions. Yet, so many fail their constituents. To build the wrong school at the wrong place, at the wrong time using the wrong methods is a misuse of their office. If you really have our youth’s education as your goal do not bankrupt the system! We cannot afford cost overruns of $1.4 million. Who is minding the store? Who did the planning that had to be changed and resulted in the overruns? Who is in charge?
Leadership is a major key to success. It prevents schools from running down and it works with the students and the community. It listens to its teachers and asks for help from the business world. Who is going to lead? Either lead or follow, but please get out of the way.
Douglas D. Wright, Morgan Hill
