By Post Staff
As are so many schools in the state and country, the North Platte Public Schools Board of Education is facing the difficult task of cutting $2 million from their 2021-2022 budget.
The board held its regular meeting on Monday and it began with the expression of frustration.
Board member Ivan Mitchell opened the meeting by expressing some concern and frustration about information regarding possible options for budget cuts that had been released to the public last week.
Mitchell was referencing an email that was sent to the parents of students at Osgood and Lake Elementary Schools by North Platte Public School District administration.
In the email, there were several options that administrators and the board were looking at in order to cut the necessary funds. One of those options was to close Lake and Osgood Elementary schools and merge those students into the remaining elementary schools
Prior to Mitchell's comments, Board President Skip Altig made it clear that, at this time, the Board and administration are only exploring and discussing options.
Mitchell, who serves on the finance sub-committee, was frustrated that the communication went out to the public before it was checked for errors and discussed further by the board.
"On January 5, I actually did not check my personal email, but started getting messages on social media," said Mitchell. "Communication went out to the Lake and Osgood parents about the different options to reduce the budget."
Mitchell said that the administration made the decision to notify the public before notifying members of the board.
"I think we have some confusion about the hierarchy and about the appropriate process for taking this out to the public," said Mitchell.
In response to Mitchell, board member Jo Ann Lundgreen noted that she had indeed received an email from Superintendent Ron Hanson in mid-December and encouraged Mitchell to recheck his email. Mitchell indicated that the email said nothing about releasing the information to the public.
Hanson spoke next and indicated that the District was making an effort to be as transparent as possible when making decisions that impact patrons.
Hanson noted that he did update the board on both December 11 and December 18 and that administration had decided to wait to notify staff and parents of the options until after the Holidays to avoid anxiety and stress.
"I pulled the cabinet team together and we decided to hold this information from our staff and our principals because we wanted them to go into the Holidays with no anxiety about a budget deficit," said Hanson.
Next, Executive Director of Finance for the District Stuart Simpson spoke and, after a lengthy review of the reasons the cuts need to be made, stated that he and the administration would like to take any school consolidations or mergers off the table.
Simpson said after a Zoom meeting with parents from Lake and Osgood, it was clear that they needed to move away from options that involved closing those schools.
Instead, it was recommended to the board that they pursue an option that doesn't involve the closure or merger of any schools but would require some staff cuts.
The proposal reads:
"Examining the multiple options, the District would like to create a one-year option of accessing the building fund levy of .01 cents, reduction of 10 non-essential staff, eliminate Adams and Madison busing, administration reduction, savings in staff hiring and program efficiency PK-12. This will save $915, 000, and the District for one year uses reserves of $1,085,000."
Mitchell then spoke again and urged the Board to discuss the options further and asked that other options be considered, including the closure of the Madison building which now houses only sixth graders, and returning sixth-graders to the elementary schools while returning Adams Middle School to the Junior High model.
At this time, numerous parents of Lake and Osgood addressed the board and all had a common theme, closing Lake and Osgood should not be an option.
Parents cited numerous reasons for this, including the recent reconfiguration of the schools and the stress that causes on students as well as the inconvenience of transporting students to schools throughout the city.
Another common concern among the parents was students who are opting out of the District by attending local private schools or other schools in the area. The Board noted that this is a concern and that Dr. Hanson and the administration were working to get these students back into the district.
In the end, the board decided that they will discuss the options further and vote on the matter at a later meeting.