The LEAP meeting began with the group discussing upcoming events for the school. A lot of the events were for adults/teachers only and most of them involved food. One of the few events that were not just teacher related was the Senior Homestrech. The group discussed the dates, April 7th and 8th, as well as past and present events. Some past events that were really popular were the yoga, self-defense, and getting smart about credit where whenever you ask a question you get a $1 coin. Some ideas for the present Homestrech are investments and credit cards as well as maybe a section on careers.

 

Next the meeting moved on to the budget and what would happen if the ninth graders joined the high schoolers. Mr. West handed out sheets of paper with the school’s budget on it and a list of teachers that are “outside the ratio” who could be at risk of being fired. He also gave a list of what how many teachers we would lose if we added more students. If the ninth graders moved up and joined us at Free State the teachers with plans would not be able to have their room during their planning period. Also if we added more students, but not more teachers, we would lose a lot of teachers which, in turn, would change our hours at the same. But if the ninth graders do move up with the ninth grade teachers the junior highs might not have enough teachers for a complete eight hour day.

    Then, they addressed the topic on everyone’s mind: the budget. The members of the board said the district needs to fill a 5 million dollar gap. Each member of the board went up to the podium and expressed their opinions and ideas about solving this crisis. 

 One woman suggested increasing student fees and cutting Learning Coaches in order to save important programs such as 6th grade band.

Other members of the board said even though they don’t want to cut elementary schools, the money has to come from somewhere, and these cuts could save more teachers’ jobs at other schools.

     

Additionally, if elementary schools were consolidated, the empty buildings could be sold and that money could go into the five million dollar hole.

Increasing classroom size by two students and cutting one administrative position between the two high schools were additional solutions discussed.

Next, they went into deeper conversation about the arts and athletics programs. High school sports need to have fewer games, and they need to cut travel a little. They also talked about choir and how they love All City concerts and they’re important but hard to get.

    

 The most important thing on the board’s mind right now is to do what they need, but make sure they are still giving the children the education they deserve.