School board answers questions
Published Wednesday, March 19
By Brant Sappington
Staff Writer
A standing room only crowd of concerned citizens packed the boardroom of the Alcorn Education Center Tuesday evening as the Alcorn Board of Education approved a plan for districtwide salary and staff reductions and faced tough questions about how the district got into financial trouble and the steps being taken to remedy the situation.
Board members approved a plan for personnel changes that is projected to cut approximately $1.8 million from the 2008-2008 school year budget through a combination of salary reductions, increases in days worked without changes in salary for some employees, and a districtwide reduction of staff in all areas.
The plan will cut approximately 15 teachers across the district along with reductions in the number of administrative, food service, custodial and other staff.
"On all levels we've cut people, and that hurts," said district financial manager Margaret Dennie. Superintendent Stacy Suggs said board policy requires that staff reductions be based on seniority with the most recently hired personnel being first subject to being cut. He has said all staff reductions will be done at the end of the current school year.
The plan also includes a reduction in the district's supplement to the state required pay for teachers. Teachers at all levels will see a $300 per contract year reduction in the district's supplementation of the state mandated salaries.
In addition to job losses and direct salary reductions, which will occur at the end of the current school year, the plan also includes adjustments to the number of days worked for given contract terms.
Those on 12 month contracts, primarily administrative staff such as principals, will go from 240 days to 260 days. Those on 11 month contracts will lose five days from 240 to 235 and those on 10 month contracts will go from 210 days to 205.
Board President Jan Haley said the board looked at numerous options in deciding on the appropriate course of action. She said she and the board understand how painful the cuts are but they ask the community to get behind them as they try to get the district out of the difficult situation its in.
"We have looked at several different options. We know there's got to be some cuts made," said Haley.
Haley said specific decisions on which individuals will be cut have not yet been officially made.
Dennie said she believes the board has worked hard to make their decisions. "The board has labored over this. They've labored over what they have to do to our staff," she said.
Suggs told the audience that if the district does not make the cuts necessary to right the financial situation the state department of education will come in and take away local control of the district. Concerned parent Jimmy Cooper, speaking on behalf of a large group of district parents who have been meeting about the issue, told the board they feel it is time for answers about how the school district got into its current financial situation.
"We're going to demand that we get a quality education for our children and we're going to demand we know where the money went," he said. Earlier this year the district revealed it was operating with a deficit of over $400,000 in its primary operating fund. A $3.5 million loan was secured in anticipation of tax revenue in order to provide operating funds through the end of the current fiscal year in June.
As of the end of February the district showed a balance of $4.8 million in the fund which shows a positive balance of $1.3 million if the loan funds are not considered. Dennie warned she expects the fund to drop significantly over the next couple of months because February marked the expected high point in tax collections.
Board members laid the blame for the problems squarely on the shoulders of the district's previous administration. At the beginning of the meeting, board member Mary Kathryn Coleman said she and other board members had been repeated assured that the district's finances were on stable ground. The problems did not begin coming to light until late last fall and the full extent of the issue was not revealed until early this year. Coleman said the district has got the people in place under the new superintendent to try to get back on track and she asked everyone to work with them.
"As long as we continue to look in the rearview mirror we will make no progress in getting this system out of the ditch and back on the road," she said.
Cooper pointed to comments made by Coleman and others that two of the biggest issues that led to the district's problems were "cronyism and politics" and asked if the other board members agreed. Haley, Gary Wren and Dr. Linda Brooks all said they believed those issues played a large part in the problem.
Wren and other board members also said former district financial manager Kathy Harrison was not allowed to come to board meetings by the district administration and the board was kept in the dark about financial matters in the district.
Several citizens in the crowd said they believed it was the board's responsibility to be aware of what was going on and ask the necessary questions.
"I think you have an obligation to at least apologize to us for just sitting there and accepting everything that came to you," said Cooper. John Stanford, also speaking on behalf of the citizens group, said one of their major goals in coming to the meeting was to ask the board not to cut teaching positions.
"You've got that group of people paying the price for mismanaging the money," he said. Stanford and others questioned the wisdom of reducing teaching staff and expressed concern for how the cuts could effect students.
Supervisor of Instruction Jean McFarland cited statistics showing the district currently has the 25th lowest teacher/student ratio in the state. She said she does not believe the reduction in the number of teachers will dramatically effect that number.
Haley asked those attending the meeting to focus on moving forward and to get behind the board and try to support what they're doing to turn the district around. She said support from parents and the community will be vital to the success of the district's efforts.
"We ask that you support us. I know that a lot of you are very, very upset with us and would like to throw things at us. We need you to support us," she said.

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