Another school dealing with budget cuts
Updated: February 18, 2013
ARCOLA -- The school district is the latest to get rid of teachers, classes and sports. It's all in an effort to save about $350,000; money school leaders thought they'd get from the state.
"It's totally frustrating because it does, it compromises the kind of program you should be having and it's not your fault," said Jean Chrostoski, Superintendent of Arcola Community District.
She says the problem stems from our state's budget problems.
"It's totally frustrating because it does, it compromises the kind of program you should be having and it's not your fault," said Jean Chrostoski, Superintendent of Arcola Community District.
She says the problem stems from our state's budget problems.
"There were no secrets. There were never any secrets to the staff or to the community on what we knew we had to do," said Chrostoski.
And what they had to do was reduce spending. That means getting rid of classes, programs and jobs.
"It sets us back. We've been trying so long to bring us our scores, to implement the common core, to do the new teacher evaluation, to be accountable for what we do to our school," said Chrostoski.
She and the school board laid out those cuts at a meeting earlier this week. They include a social studies teacher position, an art teacher position and all their teacher aides. The school board is also getting rid of the high school golf team and freshman sports teams.
And what they had to do was reduce spending. That means getting rid of classes, programs and jobs.
"It sets us back. We've been trying so long to bring us our scores, to implement the common core, to do the new teacher evaluation, to be accountable for what we do to our school," said Chrostoski.
She and the school board laid out those cuts at a meeting earlier this week. They include a social studies teacher position, an art teacher position and all their teacher aides. The school board is also getting rid of the high school golf team and freshman sports teams.
"If they don't have that, then yes, they do have a JV team that they can participate on but they don't get as much time to practice those skills. It's a really difficult decision and you have to take a look at what is college and work readiness skills, what do they really have to have," said Chrostoski.
Chrostoski says they work with local community colleges to make sure students still get the best education. That means if there's a class the high school can't provide, the college can.
