I worked as a director for a Head Start program for 7 school years. During that time I came into many conflicts/disagreements with staff, parents, supervisor, accounting, HR and even children.
One conflict I remember was during budget cuts. I was working on the budget of the program for the upcoming school year and found that due to increase costs in insurance, building maintenance and salaries etc we were not going to be able to operate all of our classrooms. This meant that we would need to shut down a full center and/or a couple of classrooms. When I brought the information to my supervisor he just kept telling me that "they" were not going to like this. "They" referred to the Board and the President. I kept telling him I knew this and I worked on three different proposals to present to the President and the Board. Suprisingly the President and Board were accepting of the proposals and I did not even have to attend one of their meetings to answer any questions. I was told that there was a lot of discussion because no one was happy about the situation but knew that a decision needed to be made. They chose one of the proposals that they felt would have the less impact to the program. This mean shutting down one of our smaller sites. When we announced the shut down the local school district was not happy about this. This caused another conflict which we had to work through, explain and justify why we were shutting down a site. Within this one issue there was many different conflicts that arose.
I feel that we looked at different alternatives, we listened from different viewpoints of the people and community that was going to be impacted and what it would look like long term.
The three different proposals were very thought out becuase I wanted to make the least impact on our program. These are just summaries of what I can remember of what we proposed to our Board.
Proposal 1: Shut down Site W. Currently we do not have a staff person there and the position is advertised. We would not have to lay anyone off. School district is currently operating a Pre K program that would allow Pre K services to continue to operate in the community.
Proposal 2: Shut down Site G. Average daily attendance for the past school year was less than 50% . Costs to operate the building was given. High mainteance costs due to owning the building. Has a waitlist of 20 children. We would have to lay off 3 staff members.
Proposal 3: Shut down Site W & S. Currently we do not have staff at either site as both positions are being advertised. School district is currently operating a Pre K program that would allow Pre K services to continue to operate for 4 year olds only in the community.
Have any of you experienced the impacts of budget cuts and what were some of your solutions?
Hi Malinda! I enjoyed reading about the conflict that you under went. I have fortunately never had to be in the middle of any conflict that involved. However, my principal talks to us about his budget cuts. It is always a fearful time around April and May because that is when the budget for the next school year is being announced and positions are being excessed or cut. I give you credit for the role you played. What was the end result?
ReplyDeleteCaitlin
Hi Malinda,
ReplyDeleteWe experienced budget cuts in the school system in the town we live in. When my second child was going to start school, we were informed a month before school started that the school had received funding for kindergarten. We have to pay for kindergarten here so this meant there would be no cost for kindergarten but they were taking away the bus for the half day program and moving the class into the bigger elementary school. We are one of the only states where full day kindergarten is not mandatory and kindergarten and first grade went to a small school house in the next town but they were now closing it. As a parent I still do not understand why if they received funding that they were not going to get originally why such drastic changes had to occur. Unfortuneately, it meant crowded classrooms, not enough staff and fewer buses. For other reasons as well, we transferred the children to a Catholic school and we have not been happier. I feel for you in the situation you were placed in, it seems as there was no chance for a win/win situation. What ended up happening?
Hi Malinda,
ReplyDeleteI have experienced similar cuts here in North Carolina on my Jobs in before. SOme of the suggestions that were presented to us were they were going to cut having two TA's in the classroom to one. Then they suggested that there would not be any floaters in the classrooms. They issue that they are having now is that there is not going to be in any TA's . If this is to happen I feel it is going to be disaster because having 16 four years olds by your self is going to be a challenge. Nothing has been said yet to what will happen for the next school year.
I thought the preposal you gave were good what exactly was the outcome of your situation? Thanks for sharing your post!
I work at a state hospital and they are always doing budget cuts. We get cheaper equipment, no raises and more work to do. It is very frustrating for all of the worker and man of us end up going back to school. I have never had to make budget decisions, but have always been impacted by them. I like the way that you handled yourself in this situation and came up with wonderful proposals. Thank you for allowing me to view it from the other side.
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