Thursday, October 15, 2009

Don't Panic

Today I held assemblies with the Seniors, Juniors, and Sophomores. The purpose was to thank them for being so respectful this year and to tell them about initiatives that we are working on for them such as improved Internet access, more student parking spaces, school safety initiatives, and our renewed efforts to reach at-risk students. I left those meetings pleased that we have such nice students.

I went back to my office and sweated out the Governor's address where he proposed $5 Billion in cuts that in his mind would begin as soon as possible and carry into next year. I took a deep breath and then called our Assistant Superintendent for Management Services, Paul Pelton. Paul and I worked with staff last year to create a budget plan that took into consideration a possible cut in funding this year, and as you know, we also had to make some difficult adjustments in order to align with the times. Our Board was very supportive of our plans, and we were very appreciative of their support as well as the support that we received from our own staff and the community.

Mr. Pelton and I communicated for a few hours before we learned about the actual cuts that were proposed for West Genesee. Finally, we learned that the cuts would be in the neighborhood of $1.5 Million. Mr. Pelton did some number crunching and determined that if we stay the course on our budget plan we will weather this initial storm. Our planning is paying off.

This is an election year and I am sure that by the time the dust settles our "hit" will be less than $1.5 Million but it will still be substantial. We have to be incredibly careful moving forward to make sure that we stay on our budget plan. We have, and we will.

Good night.
Chris