Alberton goes to 4-day school week

Officials cite serious funding deficit

In response to dangerously low funding, the Alberton School Board has taken some drastic measures to keep the school doors open.

During a public meeting last Monday, the Alberton School Board decided to pursue a new mill levy and approved the switch to a four-day school week to combat a serious funding deficit.

According to Alberton School Board Trustee Steve Piippo, the school has been in dire straits for some time now.

“People should understand that this isn't just something where we said, ‘Oh we want a new football field,'” Piippo said. “This is simply the cost after all the cuts we've been able to make that will keep the doors open.”

Piippo said the school board had to come up with an extra $120,000 this year to deal with a more than 8 percent increase in cost and virtually no increase in funding from the state.

He added that the mill levy the school board wants to float will raise almost $47,000.

“One of the reasons we're floating this mill levy is because we need it to cover the costs to keep the quality of education up. Otherwise, we end up having to cut further and further into staff that actually teaches the kids,” Piippo said.

Piippo said the raise in taxes on a home with a taxable value of $200,000 will come to $6.27 per month and that the raise for a $100,000 home will be $3.13.

“There's no extravagance in it; there's no ridiculous cost. It's just for the general budget of keeping the doors open,” Piippo said.

The school board also unanimously approved the switch to a four-day school week at Monday night's meeting. Piippo said students will no longer have Friday classes.

“In my personal opinion, this is the first step to becoming proactive in respect to our school district. We are trying to get ahead of the curve. In the past we had to be reactive with respect to waiting to see what Uncle Sam was going to hand to us and then making decisions,” Piippo said.

The school board held a public meeting for comment on the switch to four longer days of school Jan. 28 to let local parents and concerned citizens voice their opinion on the switch.

That evening, Piippo and other school board members cited examples from other schools that had switched to the four-day school week to help soothe worried parents.

“I have really appreciated all the discussion that I have heard from the staff and from the community because we can't really make wise decisions when it comes to this without you,” Piippo said.

Alberton School Superintendent Jim Baldwin said that if the school switched to four longer operating days, it could save around $50,000 by decreasing the electric bills for the school buildings, cutting back on the amount of food served by the cafeteria and cutting around 2,000 miles yearly off school bus routes.

Piippo encouraged parents by saying the actual contact time a student has with a teacher does not change under a four-day school week, and students actually have longer meetings with teachers, even though they are less often.

“The one thing that I hope people understand about this situation is that this is not just some fad,” Piippo said.

Piippo said in other schools where this system has been implemented truancy has actually gone down because students have fewer days per week to make it to school.

Some school employees at Monday's meeting expressed concerns they were losing hours because of the cut back. Baldwin said that while most staff members would not be losing work time, those who were should see him personally for help.

“No one wants to have to say in a sense, look, what you do is less important as what someone else does. Hopefully, no one will feel that way because that is not the intent,” Piippo said.

Piippo said that the school will be operating on a seven-period day and that the students will no longer have a study hall. “Essentially, you make the teacher into a baby sitter for an hour, or a warden,” Piippo said about study hall.

The school has also offered extra retirement benefits for any staff member eligible for retirement.

“The unfortunate reality is that they are the most expensive staff members we have here,” Piippo said. The school board offered two years medical insurance to any staff member who retired. Bert Blackman, who was working at one-third time, is the only teacher to have stepped down, so far. Piippo said teacher Jim Johnson has also stepped down from full time to one-third time, so the school has actually cut one full position between the two teachers.

“This is not something that anybody really wants to happen, honestly. But unfortunately, when you get backed into a corner, you have to make decisions about what is best for the district, and unfortunately that comes at a price for some of the people involved,” Piippo said.

Piippo added Alberton School staff members have been stepping up right and left to take on extra responsibilities and help the school stay in operation.

Piippo said Baldwin has taken a personal $6,000 yearly pay cut to help ease the stress on the school.

“We've already cut all the fat out; we're down to cutting muscle now,” Piippo said.