Dist. 191 budget hearings draw 1,000
Posted: 2/14/02
by John Gessner
Staff Writer
An estimated 1,000 people at three public hearings Feb. 12 tried to convince School District 191 officials to spare programs, jobs and facilities threatened by budget cuts.
At Nicollet Junior High in Burnsville, where an estimated 275 people sat on folding chairs in the gym, high school swimmers and swimming boosters rose in unison each time a speaker protested the proposed closing of the Burnsville High School pool.
And the audience applauded every other plea ó from rejecting all-day, every-other-day kindergarten to sparing elementary teaching specialists and secondary teachers.
Few of the people attending hearings at Nicollet, Metcalf and Eagle Ridge junior highs will see all their pleas answered. The Burnsville-Eagan-Savage district plans to cut $5 million to balance the 2002-03 general-fund budget, which faces a $5.7 million deficit ó a situation worsened by the narrow failure of last fallís levy referendum.
Cuts proposed by administrators total $5.5 million, leaving the School Board a little leeway at decision time on March 7.
The pool closing represents only $75,000 in cuts but may have mobilized the biggest protest. At the Nicollet hearing, former BHS swim coach Howard Anderson extolled the proud history of Burnsville swimming and disputed the administrationís numbers.
He said the administration overestimated savings on custodial hours and didnít factor in lost revenue from swimming lessons and the cost of moving high school swim meets and practices to the Eagle Ridge pool in Savage. Anderson said the pool would cost $9,500 a year to operate, not $75,000.
Six years ago the district spent $750,000 to renovate the BHS pool rather than close it and build a more expensive competition pool at the then-new Eagle Ridge school, Anderson said. Another $50,000 was spent three years ago on locker room tile, he said.
ěIt seems ridiculous to me to spend $800,000 to close a pool that costs only $9,500 to run,î Anderson said.
Supporters said closing the pool would decimate Burnsville Swim Club programs for younger swimmers and weaken the high school program. They said the swim club and high school boosters are willing to help pay operating expenses.
ěThe thought of not being able to finish my senior year in the pool I spent over two-thirds of my life in seemed incomprehensible,î said varsity swimmer Angie Miller.
K-6 teaching specialists in art, music, science and physical education protested the thinning of specialist hours, which administrators say will contain elementary class sizes ó a high priority of focus groups that met in November and December to discuss budget priorities.
Classes now get instruction from music specialists twice every eight days; that would be at least halved next year, said Judy Willemssen of Vista View, speaking for the districtís 11 elementary music specialists.
ěThere is simply not enough room in the day for the classroom teacher to continue elementary music instruction,î she said.
Alan VanWyngarden said that halving the time students spend with physical education specialists will raise liability and safety issues and make it impossible to run a meaningful program.
ěPlease do not delude yourselves into thinking you are keeping any semblance of the physical education program,î said VanWyngarden, a district phy ed teacher for 27 years. He said phy ed teachers would rather close a school and increase walking distances to save money.
Speaking for district kindergarten teachers, Jonalyn Lippka protested the proposed all-day, every-other-day kindergarten schedule, which would save money on busing. She disputed administratorsí claims that the program could improve studentsí academic performance and social growth.
ěAll the research we can find only supports this statement for full-day, every-day programs,î said Lippka, who teaches at Edward Neill. Every-other-day kindergarten would require constant re-teaching, she said.
Kim Depies, parent of a Neill kindergartner, agreed.
ěI see kids that will fall through the cracks if we do every other day,î said Depies, who volunteers in her sonís classroom. ěThey need the support of every-day kindergarten.î
The proposed reduction of junior high teaching positions would lead to some intolerably large classes in ěcoreî subjects that the administration seeks to protect from large class sizes, and even larger classes in some electives, said Nicollet teacher Sue Slater.
ěI urge you to restore the $500,000 in staffing so students will not be taught in classrooms with as many as 39 to 46 students,î she said.
Nicollet teacher Steve Ketcham said staff reductions and the proposed reduction of the junior high day from seven periods to six would leave teachers less time to lead such groups as Breakfast Club and Peer Tutors. He predicted the groups would whither.
ěThose kids help out around the school in countless ways that are never documented,î said Ketcham, volunteer leader of the Breakfast Club. ěThey help kids survive the junior high experience.î
At Burnsville High School, proposed staff reductions would wipe out about 100 elective classes, said Jean Braun, who teachers English as second language. The administration plan would limit registration beyond five classes for juniors and seniors to a space-available basis.
World languages, fine arts and technology offerings will suffer ó at a time when two years of a world language and a year of fine arts are routine college-entrance requirements, Braun said.
Proposed cuts in English-language instruction would send some students into mainstream classes unprepared and force others to take longer to fulfill graduation requirements, Braun said.
Luke Bearth, an administrator at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Savage, said a proposal to add a fourth tier to the three-tier system of school start and end times could affect the schoolís schedule by up to two and a half hours. St. Johnís would start as late as 10:05 a.m.
The school ó which by state law receives busing service from the district within district boundaries ó has been affected by past scheduling changes also, Bearth said.
Parent Brian Rappe protested a proposal to cut 16 licensed positions and 30 educational assistants from special education. He said students will lose needed individual attention.
Nicollet Junior High nurse Kathy Wittnebel protested proposed cuts in nursing hours at most schools, as well as the proposed elimination of family-support workers, which the district partially funds. Without the workers, it will be left to nurses to make agency referrals to needy students and families, Wittnebel said.
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