After a year of budget meetings and difficult decisions, the district and MHS administrators have finalized cuts at MHS. Changes include the loss of one study hall teacher, two hall monitors, one parking lot attendant, one Welcome Center secretary, one physical education teacher, one counselor and one biology teacher.
In addition to these cuts, one Spanish teacher and one physical education teacher will begin teaching at MHS part-time only. Also, other support staff will not be returning next year. Robert Bauer and Frank Bacon, hall monitors, are two of those staff members. Willie Price, parking lot attendant, was also informed his position would not be available in 2011.
“I’m fine with it,” Price said. “I think it’s a beautiful place to work, but I was going to leave anyway.”
Price, who worked for American Airlines before deciding to become a parking lot attendant five years ago, thinks this cut was the best way Rockwood could work out its budget crisis.
“I don’t think there was a better way to fix the budget,” Price said. “They told me they were just cutting back, and that my position would not be available next year.”
The study hall teacher position, currently filled by Richard Branson, also will not be filled in the 2011 to 2012 schoolyear.
Brian Lane, science teacher, resigned from his position as a biology teacher to pursue a PhD in Biological Sciences at the University of Missouri.
“I was accepted into the program in the middle of February, and officially resigned shortly after that,” Lane said. “It’s an exciting time and I have a tremendous adventure ahead of me.”
Lane’s position will not be refilled.
“I am confident the talented folks in the science department will keep up their great work, even if a new teacher is not brought in to replace me next year,” Lane said.
One counselor will be reassigned to Lafayette.
“I think the district cuts are one giant sweep backward,” Marianna Stuart, the counselor who will be moved to Lafayette, said. “The counselors here now are going to be overloaded, and they won’t be able to spend as much quality time with the students.”
“The district saved a significant amount of money from cutting counseling,” Don Coons, head counselor, said. “We have been hit very hard throughout the district.”
Pete Boyer and Michelle Spencer were both affected in the physical education department.
Spencer, the teacher who was affected by the .4 points cut in physical education, will spend half of the school day at Kehrs Mill Elementary and the remaining half at MHS.
“I’m not surprised they had to cut into physical education,” Spencher said. “The district would have worked more on keeping teachers form the core classes, and PE and health seems to be the logical place to cut.”
Boyer, physical education teacher, was reassigned elsewhere in the district.
As the special teams coach for the football team, Boyer’s departure will be noticed by the students.
“He was very crucial to all of our success this year. He will be missed, as he was always fun and made practice and workouts a lot more enjoyable,” Ryan Campbell, sophomore, said.
“In addition to the loss of one counselor, three half-time secretary positions in the Guidance Office will be eliminated and replaced with one full-time position.
“There was some rearranging in the counseling department for district budget reasons,” Coons said. “Ten counselors have been cut from the district in total. Marquette was lucky enough to not have cut anyone, but only to move one to Lafayette.”
Lafayette had to cut three counselors.
The teacher cuts will affect remaining staff in the departments that received cuts.
“It makes our job a little tougher,” Coons said.
