School district holds staff meeting to get input on future budget

The Wrangell School District held a staff meeting in the high school commons on Jan. 23. Budget season is beginning to loom, and the district is starting to put together a proposed budget for the next school year. Georgianna Buhler, business manager for the school district, said that they did not have any projections for what the budget would look like yet, but they are in the process of getting that information.

Staff and teachers from the elementary, middle, and high school were all invited to give input on what they felt the district's priorities should be in the near future, to help in that process.

"We're a team in every respect," said Superintendent Debbe Lancaster. "I'm going to be listening for what you want, what you like ... we're all ears."

David Macri, principal of the middle school and high school, said that he felt the district was doing okay, money-wise. His opinion, he said, was that the district needed more flexibility and creativity, as well as additional training opportunities for staff. Professional development was something that several people at the meeting agreed should be a priority. This was not even something the school had to spend a lot of money on. The suggestion was raised that staff could help train each other, depending on their area of expertise.

Lancaster, after the meeting concluded, mentioned that there was talk of reaching out to members of the community to help teach valuable skills to both staff and students.

Something else that teachers said would be a big help in the coming school year would be devoting resources to the training of more aides and substitute teachers. Even giving aides and substitute teachers a raise would be a big help. This could encourage more of them to stay with the school district long-term, and would save people time on having to train new aides.

Teacher Drew Larrabe said that the district really needed to "save pennies on the dollar" and find small ways to cut costs that would add up in the long run. One suggestion was raised to have a central "copier room" in schools, instead of each classroom having its own printer. Another area to save money, according to Lancaster, would be in software costs. If only one teacher needed some software that cost $1,500 a year to use, she gave as a hypothetical example, that was something the district probably didn't need to spend money on. Matt Gore, technology director for the district, said that he was sending out a survey to teachers about the technology and software they use for their jobs, and what they really needed. This survey could help in that cost-cutting area, he said.

Before concluding the meeting, Lancaster said that there were some dates the staff would need to remember, to help in the budgeting process. Travel plans and the financial needs of each department need to be turned in by March 15. A list of school supplies needed is expected by April 1. The first draft of the budget, she added, will be presented to the school board on Feb. 18.