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ASD meets new reality: eight days will be lost By Amber Fossen Ashland Daily Tidings With the defeat of Measure 28, decisions will have to be made quickly. Faced with a $540,000 loss, the Ashland School District will be skimming eight days off the academic calendar, which will leave teachers, administrators and staff in the position of having to weight what they feel should be kept in the curriculum. As teachers and staff continue to keep the schools operating, union leaders and district administrators will meet this week to collaborate on which days will be dropped from the 2002-2003 school calendar. Karrie Bettes, Oregon School Employees Association Chapter 42 president, said there has been some discussion on which days to reduce, but no decisions have been made. "There's a lot of different ideas but no one's set on certain days," Bettes said. Bettes represents 145 classified employees within the ASD who will face a reduction of eight days - in addition to two days that were previously dropped for a total of 10 eliminated work days. Bettes said that most classified employees are on 10-month contracts with only five paychecks remaining, which means that each paycheck will reflect a loss of two days or approximately $200 per month. Classified workers like Meg Wright, Bellview Elementary office manager, feel there are no more options without state support. "There's not a choice so we have to go with the flow the best we can," Wright said. The district will be working closely with both classified and certified employee groups until Feb. 10, when an outline of which days to drop will be presented to the Ashland School Board for approval. Families with children in the district will be immediately notified thereafter, according to school officials. Superintendent Juli Di Chiro said all district employees will take the necessary eight days off even if they're not the same days. "If we take a day where we close the schools and it wasn't a scheduled day for our educational assistants, we would have to figure out another day to deduct from them," Di Chiro said. As for the district office, a rolling schedule of days off will be implemented so that the office can remain open, school officials said. While union leaders and administrators seek to reach a new calendar by Feb. 10, certified employees like Mark Schoenleber, an Ashland High School art and history teacher, are preparing to adjust to the reduction in pay. "We all have a tendency to live from paycheck to paycheck and it seems like all my monthly bills add up to what I make. I'm worried about how I'm going to pay them," Schoenleber said, noting that he will likely seek additional employment to make up for the financial loss. As teachers and staff brace for the hit to the pocket book, they will also have to examine their work loads to see where corners can be cut. "It's (elimination of days) definitely going to affect what we can do and how much time we have to do it. It's just disappointing to condense what we're doing and to take more opportunities away from our students," Schoenleber said. Schoenleber, who has taught in the district for 20 years, said that more work will have to be done outside of school, especially if in-service days are reduced since many teachers use those days to plan lessons and grade assignments. "The work that we need to do does not go away just because we lose an in-service day," he said. Di Chiro said that teachers will have to make some streamlining decisions. "What the teachers are going to have to do is look at what they normally cover and look at what they're not going to include this year," she said, adding that state standards would be considered in curriculum adjustments. According to Helman Elementary School Principal Barbara Fields, administrators will assist teachers. "We'll work with our teachers to make sure that we do use our time wisely," Fields said. As for seniors who are close to graduation, Di Chiro said they will receive full credits upon graduation so that they will meet college application requirements. While school officials and staff gear for change, the frustration of Measure 28's failure remains. "It's a time when the teachers feel personally sad," Fields said. "They're losing contact time with kids, and in reality they're losing a half month's salary. It kind of feels like it's on our shoulders and it should be on the shoulders of every Oregonian in the state." LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -