Liberty eliminates 5 school days

<p>The Liberty School District is delaying the start of classes by one week this year to help trim some $30,000 from its budget.</p><!-- Nothing to do. The paragraph has already been output --><p>Liberty Elementary School will open on Aug. 26, rather than Aug. 19, thereby reducing the 2009-2010 school year by 10 days. The move will result in a 2.5 percent pay cut for employees, and save the school district about $30,000 per year.</p><p>“In January, a district budget committee comprised of board members, staff members and parents began weighing possible budget cuts due to state funding cutbacks. We needed to cut $120,000, and in the spring, our board voted to make the cut,” said Chris Rafanelli, Liberty’s superintendent.</p><p>The state budget subsequently authorized school districts to trim the school year by five days for the next four years, with the understanding that this would not affect state Average Daily Attendance funding.</p><p>“We elected to do it this year, and might want to do it next year if we need to make cuts, and if it is an effective choice for our kids,” Rafanelli said.</p><p>Liberty feels that the option of cutting school days is preferable to cutting or reducing programs.</p><p>“No doubt, reducing the number of school days is not something that we wanted to do, but everyone was in agreement that we need to save programs for students,” Rafanelli said. “The truth is, kids who do fine in 180 days will do fine in 175 days, and kids who aren’t performing at grade level need all the support they can get.</p><p>“So, we need to preserve our summer school, after-school and in-school support programs.”</p><p>Liberty, traditionally one of the highest performing schools in the county in standardized tests, also wanted to help maintain its enrichment programs.</p><p>Rafanelli feels that his staff’s dedication will help to compensate for the lost school days.</p><p>“Our staff members work very hard, and put in way more time than they’re paid for,” he said.</p><p>Given the alternatives, Liberty’s decision to trim classes wasn’t a hard one, Rafanelli said.</p><p>“It wasn’t difficult at all,” he said. “Everyone was in agreement to save programs for students by making a mutual sacrifice.”</p><p>Administrators at other local school districts have discussed the possibility of trimming the number of school days. </p><p>Petaluma City Schools has eliminated three staff development days for teachers and three days for other employees.</p><p>“We haven’t taken the step of cutting the number of school days, but we might need to discuss it if the economic situation continues,” said Steve Bolman, PCS’ deputy superintendent of business and administration.</p><p>The Old Adobe Union School District has been reluctant to cut out school days, but Superintendent Diane Zimmerman said that “if the economic situation doesn’t get any better, we will need to re-evaluate it.”</p><p>Scott Mahoney, superintendent of the Waugh School District says that to trim school days, districts need to work with employee groups, and that very few districts were willing to do so this year.</p><p>“But the situation for districts will be much more dire next year,” Mahoney said.</p><p>(Contact Dan Johnson at dan.johnson@arguscourier.com)</p>