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I believe the Collegitate
Program should be tabled at the present time. This
program only helps a SMALL amount of students and the
transportation costs must not be very effective since
(at our school) we only have 5 students on the bus going
to BCC AND a part-time guidance counselor assigned to
them, this entire program is not very cost effective.
AT Choice Programs - Almost the same situation as
above. It does not help a majority of students, it is a
very small number and again, transportation costs are
not very economical. Make all 12 month employees (Prin,
AP, Data, Bookkeepers, Custodians, clerks) 11 month
employees and SHUT DOWN every school for one month.
Between wages, and electricity this should save quite a
bit of money - maybe even enough to save some jobs. If
we all gave a bit (and I am a 12 month employee)
together, we may be able to get through this. |
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Send the students to their
neighborhood schools instead of busing them all over the
County. Redistrict the schools to accommodate the over
crowding and utilize the schools in a more efficient
way. Thus eliminating new additions where they are not
needed. I know its political suicide but it's got to be
done sooner or later. |
|
Stop paying for lawn care
at ESF. Have maintenance or in house custodial group
mow the lawn. This would save $14,500 per year. |
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Stop spending money on
updating texts when what you have is not that old to
begin with and their is such a deficit with spending it
is more important to have the faculty there to teach it
with the books you currently have rather than new books
and to few teachers. Also the campaign of "Be There" and
any future campaigns of such should be seriously
considered as the cost for those two words was to much.
To pay the amount of money that was paid in these times
was not so wise to say the least if the board feels it
necessary to create this type of program have the school
implement it, as I am sure they can think of the words
"Be there" just as well but without the cost. |
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We could probably save a
lot of money by not adopting a new math series next
year. It is an adequate series and could be used another
year. We would need to purchase workbooks, but we may be
able to do this at the District's print shop which could
also save money. It seems unnecessary to spend so much
money on books when the books we have are only 5 years
old. |
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Cut the work week from 40
hours to 36 hours and shut down buildings at noon on
friday saving on labor and energy. You could try this
during the summer. Some 12 month employees would like
to take the summer off. Offer this option to take time
off without pay. Require all employees to take 5
days off without pay per year. Give them the entire
year to take off. This would be for support staff. |
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Perhaps adopting the four
day school week for students would help drastically cut
costs. Due to rising costs for transportation (astronimical
gasoline prices), the four day week for students seems
as if it could save a significant amount of money.
Lenghthier school days four days per week instead of
shorter school days five days a week would ensure that
student achievement and success would not be
affected. I understand that bus drivers and aides
would be affected regarding salary; however, it seems to
be in the best interests of the students to keep as many
highly qualified teachers in the classroom as possible. |
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Many teachers do not need,
want, or use the district supplied textbooks.
Significant saving could be made by only supplying new
textbooks to the teachers that would actually use them. |
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- Take voluntary "unpaid"
time off, ie: 2-4 weeks in the summer and/or winter.
- Reduce the usage of company vehicles. |
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Isn't it time the people
who came back after Drop actually retired. Their
monthly retirement benefits are more than most support
staff earn in one month. They would be missed but the
work would continue and their salaries would allow lower
paid employees to keep their jobs |
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Early Retirement incentive
like the private industry does. With an overage of
teachers we do not need a recruitment dept. place those
employees in the frozen positions. Cut back on
trainings. workshops, out of county travel that cost the
District money. Cut back on sub classes as we have so
many subs they are not happy they only work a day a
month after paying for fingerprints, drug screening,
certificate. Charge $50 for substitute certificates it
has been the same for years. Charge for the sub
classes since BCC charges us for the class to be
taught. Only hire subs that have an AA degree cutting
back on the paperwork and time involved for an 18 old to
be in a classroom, a high school graduate teaching our
students. District vehicles that are used to take home
and back to work should only be for the administrators
not cafeteria employees, tech workers, etc. save on gas
& maintenance of those vehicles. Wellness dept. is a
great benefit, maybe only have one person and place the
others in schools or in the district somewhere in an
open position or utilize in the SSNP program at
schools. DROP employees should not return at the higher
pay that is costing the District lots of money. Return
as a new employee pay. utilize the on-line job center
and stop all the double paperwork of the paper
application and then print out the on-line job
application as well. Defeats the purpose that we paid
for a program we don't utilize fully, most employers
only accept on-line applications and no paper
application. Continue to monitor over-time. Limit the
amount of sub-contractors we use at the District to cut
grass, do repairs. Evaluate all the resource teachers,
staffing specialists, psychologists, behavior
technicians, special programs we have for the District.
Alternative Sites, teenage parent programs Ask for
volunteers who would want their contract to be changed
from 12 months to 10 months with no pay. Considering
closing all schools and the District during Sprink
Break, winter break to save on energy usage many times
only a hand full of employees are working but the energy
being used is being used at it's capacity. Close on
Fridays for a year or two during the summer months and
have employees work 10 hr days like Harris, Rockwell
do. As for voluntary lay-off. Consider some positions
as part-time with no benefits. Evaluate the supplements
being paid to teachers, coaches, administrators during
these rough times. Maybe restructure the Area's I, II,
III, IV and only have three Areas North, Central and
South Area. Hopefully no one has to be laid off and we
can keep our employees. |
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I've worked in the system
for 20 years. I've seen many changes. I don't know
that cutting support positions in personel dept. would
be the first place to cut back, they barely maintain
througout the year, when we so heavily rely on them.
They come through for us each and every time but are
burdened by a lot of necessary paper work. The fast
team that travels to our facilities could be used more
efficiently. Many times you see them "at rest" during
the school day, how about localizing smaller fast teams
so they are more accessible in areas of say, 10 school
block area. If they don't have anything to do at the
school they are assigned for the day they can move to
the next. Possibly saving gasoline in the process.
They don't complete all the work orders at those sites
while they are there anyway for a variety of reasons.
But they seem to be affective on paper. What you read
may not necessarily be what's really going on at our
sites. I don't want to take away from those handful of
wonderful workers but you could revisit this area. |
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Schools of Choice are an
excellent opportunity, however Corridor Bussing should
be eliminated. If a parent and student feel strongly
about attending a School of Choice they should also be
able to provide their own transportation. The cost of
bus maintenance, bus driver salary and FUEL could be
greatly reduced. |
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Students who take
advantage of dual enrollment are getting a great
financial benefit by having their tuition paid. If a
family is not on free and reduced lunch, they should
have to shoulder the expense of their textbooks. They
can purchase used ones if needed. |
|
The only one who should
have a company car is the superintendant, all others
should use pool cars as needed. |
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Some elementary schools
may be able to do with an SRO. |
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The fact that the
temperature cannot be regulated in the individual areas
of the school is a gross waste of money. The majority
of the year most of the employees and students wear
sweaters as it is so cold throughout most of the
school. This is only one of the ways money is wasted on
electricity through the entire school system. |
|
The recruitment department
could be disbanded - if employees are going to be laid
off there is no reason to "recruit" new employees. The
bus driver quarterly incentive pay could be cancelled
for next year. I see big school buses going up and down
the roads with only a few students on them - maybe
purchase a 10 or 15 passenger van for each area for less
than full runs or speciality runs and/or combine the
smaller runs. If we are talking budget cuts and the
possibility of layoffs why are some positions being
upgraded? Why are some temporary employees being paid
at the top of the salary schedule instead of the
beginning? |
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Buses are not FULL. Reduce
the number of busses and combine routes. This will not
only save gas but it will also help the enviornment.
Require evey employee to turn off their computer, when
they leave the building. I see computers left on all day
with no body working on them. |
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Well, I am a custodian and
of course I do no want my position cut, and I know for a
fact that the schools can not function without essential
support staff, so I believe there are many ways to
reduce cuts. First of all, I have seen maintance staff
show up at my school and one of them work while 4 watch.
Why do you need 4 people to do a one person job? Cut all
but the essential WASTE MAINTANCE PERSONNELL. aLSO, WHY
DO HIGH LEVEL EMPLOYEES GET TAKE HOME VEHICLES? One or
two men park their personal vehicles at our school, and
then use company vehicles to go to work. Why not make
them take their own vehicles? We all sure have to. Also,
there does not need to be multiple front office clerks
at every school. The district needs to offer early
retirement to the drop people so they arent pulling
double salary. If they lay off a bunch of people, then
the drop people retire, then they are no better off than
they are now. Change schhol times as they did in volusia
county so the busses run less thus saving fuel. There
are tons of things that can be cut before employees so
please look at every option. |
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If custodians were changed
to eleven month, instead of twelve month employees,
the county could save a large amount of money by them
not earning annual leave hours. Their one month off
could be staggered, over the summer.With a shorter
summer school, their is no need for them to be
employed for a full twelve months, & that would save
a bundle, also. |
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Could we please increase
the temperature in the buildings? The media center at
my school is 68 degrees and would be comfortable at 74. |
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I don't think that we
should continue to have reading coaches. My school
shares a coach with a couple other schools and therefore
she has very little quality time to spend with any one
given school. A number of planning times are spent on
the training and testing, but due to lack of time, most
teachers use very little of the resulting data. I think
this position is a time and money waster. |
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As a choice program mom
relying heavily on corridor busing, I would be willing
to go to fee-based busing. This would be preferable to
losing busing altogether - which (in my opinion) would
vanquish the choice programs. I would have to
immediately pull my kids from the IB program and return
to my home school. I would also be willing to
voluntarily donate to a "scholarship" program to
subsidize low-income families that might not be able to
afford the fees. |
|
A. Reduce travel and
conference costs by scheduling at least 3-4 weeks in
advance. If there is more than one conference site
available, personnel should choose conference site that
is closest to work site or home. Also, sending one or
two people to conferences that can bring back
information to share with others can reduce costs as
well. B. Eliminate overtime where possible. |
|
There are a lot of folks
in support services both hourly and salary that would
not mind going to a ten month schedule. Put it out there
as a possibility and see how many will take that option
- I sure would if it was offered to me! |
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To whom it may concern i
think all company vehicles should be parked (fuel $4.00
a gallon) i feel that the positions that are not
filled, and the jobs are still getting complete, that
they should be totally whipped out of the budget
totally. i feel that the bus routes should be shorter
or even park some of the buses that are not full of
kids. drop Priderock contract and inhouse all the work,
and keep the same price for our revenue take a look at
some of the higher paying salaries and may be reconsider
the total income for a while |
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My suggestions to help
with the budget would be. Park all district cars. (
Save on fuel ) Make some departments a 10 month
position in ESF. Rearrange bus pickup to cut service.(
Save on Fuel.) Suspend the D.R.O.P program for the
time. Encourage staff that is eligible to retire to do
so. Last Good luck Dr. DiPatri |
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1. Park all district cars
and use only when absolutely needed, or use just the
maintenance vehicles, to save on fuel 2. Make some
departments a 10 or 11 month work year in ESF to cut
costs of electricity 3. Inquire about a 4 day work week
at ESF and save on those expenses each week 4. How
much does it cost to run the cafeteria here at ESF? It
is a nice addition to the work place but would it be
more cost effecient to just give everyone an hour lunch
break and let them go get lunch or bring it? 5.
Re-route the bus routes. I see buses going down A1A and
South Orlando Avenue in Cocoa Beach every morning
stopping at every other street. Make some children walk
to a central location or let parents drive/walk them
there. Then make one stop and save on fuel and time.
6. For those who will be retiring within the next year
see if they would be willing for early retirement. 7.
Re-adjust the Air Conditioner!!! I know in my department
it is always much cooler than it should be. Everyone
that comes in here is freezing by the time they leave.
Make it at room temperature not below that. 8. One
thing that I do not agree with and I have been hearing
is that the schools will be cutting back extra
curricular activities. I know for a fact that even
though it would save money it is not a good idea to cut
them back entirely. Sports and music help students
achieve much more than academic excellence. It may even
give them motivation to do better in academics. That is
what I thought this school district was about. Education
for the students! Let's keep it that way and give the
students multiple not limited options. I understand
these suggestions are very small and minimal when
compared to the overall outlook of the budget. Although,
I think you would be surprised how much money these
suggestions can save. |
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reduce number of work days
to 4 per week and work hours to 32 per week for all
district level and school level employees. This should
save approx $1,622,400. This is based upon a wage of
$13.00 per hour at 8 hours per week for a year, for 300
employees. This could also be more if more employees
could be involved. |
|
It may be time for the
district to utilze an early retirement option. Looking
ahead, we have so many employees close to retirement, or
in DROP who will exit at about the same time. Laying off
ONLY low seniority employees leaves the district
vunerable to loss of experience when a mass exodus of
retirees occures in a few years. It would be wise to
have a balance of experience remaining in the district
otherwise when the economy picks up again, and our
seniors employees have retired, the only option is
hiring new employees who have no knowledge of school
operation. Many districts and private business tend to
let the "higher" wage earners retire if they are closer
to retirement. This is a common business practice. |
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Reduce support staff at
the school level. Use remaining support staff to cover
other areas. Do not renew DROP contracts. |
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I am completing my 4th
year in a part time position. The district should
look at "job - sharing" as a viable alternative for
keeping annual contract teachers as opposed to letting
them ALL go. Some may be willing to share a position
until a full time spot becomes available based on
numbers and budget issues. Brevard is a great place to
work and some may be attracted to this option as a way
to stay with the district. |
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The a/c in our buildings
is typically way too high, it would be good to change
that. It's important to look at the impact of each of
our positions. Even though they might not be "in class"
teacher positions, there are some positions, like
resource teachers and reading coaches, that impact every
child in the school by providing valuable services for
all teachers that allow them to do the tremendous
instructional job they do. Without some support staff,
teachers will be spending more time trying to get
through the small details and not enough time planning
and implementing quality data driven instruction for
students. |
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No replenishment funds for
one year. Drop Techs back to 10 months for this
summer. Only necessary summer classes. |
|
the board should really
take action the way Bcc did. I know for a fact that
there administration positions that could be cut or cut
the position and let the person cut take a demotion. The
fact of the matter is that the school board cannot cut
essential personel. That includes janitors and cafeteria
staff. I was at my sons school tonight to pick him up
from an afterschool program, and I saw some of the
custodians cleaning, and they were so friendly and
helpful, and my son even knew their names. That is a
testament to the fine staff, even at the lower levels of
the school, for them to be so friendly, to me and my
son. If the cleaning staff gets cut, and the school
becomes dirty, dont expect to see my son there again.I
will not have him sick.. thank you |
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Start the school day next
year in the afternoon to take advantage of the cooler
late afternoon saving on air conditioning costs. |
|
It some parts of our
school the temperature is 66'. That is crazy. Also,
at Viera, the temperature is too cold. We always need
a jacket when visiting there. Since the temperature
is controlled by computer from Viera, please check
into that. Raising the temp just a few degrees would
certainly save money. |
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There are many counselors
that work 11 months. This might not be necessary. Also
the guidance service professioanls and clerks that have
been assigned to middle schools and junior/senior high
schools could temporarily be eliminated since the SSNP
initiative cannot be completed at the high school level
anyway. |
|
Transportation- 1 route
specialist cut from each area. 3 of the 4 areas have at
least one that really doesn't know their job
anyway. Supervisors, assitant supervisors, shop
foremans and anyone else driving a company car, drive
their own personal vehicle to and from work. Shop
foreman uses his vehicle to tow airboat, transport etc
on evenings and weekends. Lose the attendence
incentive bonus, know it was needed at one time, but not
now. Cut some of the extra duty workers, we do need
some, upholstry, videos, and someone to clean lounge,
bathrooms, offices etc. It should not go by seniority,
those at the top are the ones wasting the time and not
really working. Cut some of the field trips, waste
of gas and pay for drivers, especially the vpk trips
once a month, how many restraunts can they go and
see.... Cut transporting for specialty schools, cutting
buses for special programs during the day, jr high to
high school for higher math classes, transporting to BCC
or Back. Put more time in between School start
times, then buses can be utilized more efficiently.
Pay drivers for drive time or back to 6 hours, most try
to get out of doing thier owed time, this way the only
way they will make extra money on their check is by
doing the in between trips or evening trips. Charging
the schools for the drivers time and fuel for all
trips. Supervise the shop time better, there is a lot
of time being paid to the mechanics that they are
playing games on the computer, sitting around the table
, grilling out, running and getting lunch and breakfast
in company vehicles. |
|
the summer day care
programs need to be closer looked at, combining schools
in each area, north, central, and south to have at least
100 children attending to make it worth running
electricity, etc. and group leaders working together to
save money, or just simply not having summer programs
this year until the budget is better. Also maybe not
having every classroom with refrigerators, etc. to save
on electricity, and lastly quit spending money on new
furniture that is not needed |
|
I suggest that schools
close for 2-4 weeks in the middle of the summer break.
Costs for utilities would be saved. Create a central
summer school for several schools in an area. For
example, West Melbourne School for Science, Meadowlane
Primary, Meadowlane Intermediate, Roy Allen, Riviera
schools could send their students to one building.
Costs for cafeteria, utilities, etc. would be a
tremendous savings. During the summer, 12 month
employees in the schools could work four 10-hour days,
closing the buildings on Friday. We did this years ago
and it did not seem to pose any problem as far as
servicing our "customers." |
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Cutting the BPS television
series to monthly broadcasts or a few times a year.
Having support staff report to schools and teach
children lessons such as the science, math, and reading
contacts. |
|
Board certified teachers
should have to obtain a masters degree as part of the
requirement to achieve the pay. This would asure the
teacher truly has the knowledge and ability needed and
not just a series of videos and documentation. |
|
Our school is constantly
too cold during the school year. By raising the
temperature a few degrees, we could save electricity and
cut down the use of space heaters to counter-act the
cold. |
|
I have a suggestion for
the state, that could maybe be forwarded. Students who
enroll in Dual Enrollment are allowed to drop after the
time to get money back for their classes. This wastes
hundreds of dollars for the state who pays their tution.
They should have to reimburse the state for dropping the
course, or pay a fine if it is after the add/drop date. |
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Dual Enrollment students
should have to pay for their books, or at least rent
them. The state is absorbing a huge cost by paying for
these books out right. Other states pay for tuition
only, not books. North Carolina did this. |
|
Students wishing to attend
summer school should pay for classes. In North
Carolina, Summer School was offered at a cost of $400
per course. |
|
In our school, there are
lights that are left on at night and year-round. Why
can't these lights be shut off after school? We keep
lights on in the bathrooms and in the concession area
all the time. |
|
I think we need to take a
serious look at our empolyees in DROP. We hold on to
some of these great employees at high cost and forget
about grooming someone to take over at some point, thus
causing us to need these employees even more. If we
properly had succesion plans in place, the district
could not only save money but also eliminate some of the
difficulties when these employee leave the district. |
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*Cut bussing for school of
choice students. Parents provide transportation.
*Don't use buses to transport only 2-3 ESE students.
Transport those students on a smaller bus or in an
approved vehicle. *Cut unnecessary courses such as the
career course in 7th and 9th grade. |
|
Although the programs
include great partnerships, I feel like Lagoon Quest,
Project BLAST, and Project SEINE should be put on the
backburner until our budget issues are resolved- it
isn't worth overcrowded classrooms to have a few special
programs. Transportation for ESE students must be
reconsidered-a full sized school bus for one student and
their aid is an outrageous abuse of funds. A 4 day
school week, although unconventional, has a lot of
validity. In middle school, the required career wheel
needs to be rethought. We need a return to
basics...Math, Science, Social Studies, and Language
Arts are the most important, followed by the Fine Arts,
Physical Education and Vocational Arts. Electives for
the sake of filling the hours waste teacher units and
result in little more than babysitting time. Realize
that not every student is college bound- stop putting
money into programs that perpetuate this misconception.
Halt textbook adoptions... it only puts money in the
pocket of the textbook companies... instead increase
copy and technology funds so that teachers can
supplement their textbooks with current information.
Stop increasing the pay scale on the lower end, veteran
teachers should be rewarded for their loyalty to the
profession. Halt "salary" increases for school board
members. Pay district employees and non-classroom
teachers on an hourly rate. We can't afford a "Federal
Government-Like Approach" to our infrastructure... we
shouldn't have a collection of district employees with
no specific task to do on any given day who enjoy loose
lunch hours. Rethink every printed item before it is
sent out... color copies and professionally printed
brochures for the sake of propaganda is a waste of
money. We don't need to recruit students to our school
system... Reduce transportation for school of choice
students. Combine bus routes with "regular" schools.
"Drop" the DROP program. Don't waste money creating new
curricula to replace curricula that was not "broken" to
begin with (i.e. Human Sexuality). Consult with the
teachers who will be using the classrooms before
unnecessary, expensive equipment is put into them (i.e.
Fume Hoods in Middle School Science rooms). Allow lab
fees for science. Decide on one hourly rate for training
and pay all teachers this rate... there shouldn't be
differential pay in such instances. Not all
"subscription" resources are good... get more input
before we pay out (i.e. Online journal resource last
year). Don't hire motivational speakers to give
inservices! We fail to utilize our resources within who
would cost the district a lot LESS money! Our top
priority should be quality education in the classroom...
anyone or anything that doesn't help us to do that
should be cut from the budget. |
|
Before firing teachers,
consider cancelling construction on additional
buildings. If the district employs less teachers, they
won't need as many (let alone MORE) classrooms. I'm sure
all teachers would rather teach in a portable than be
unemployed. |
|
Try soliciting support /
funding / sponsorship from area industry & government
(i.e. NASA, Air Force, etc. etc) to span the budget
crunch. |
|
Allow natural attrition to
reduce the workforce. Try early-out, buy-out, etc. type
options to reduce the workforce. An added benefit is
that the employees closest to retirement are also the
highest paid (highest cost). Also, try mandatory
retirement for eligible employees. Retirement of one
eligible employee could allow retention of two new-hire
employees (will keep student:teacher ratio down).
Younger employees are significantly cheaper...don't just
lay them off first because it is easy. |
|
Try to get the county
millage rate for education increased. I highly doubt
many people will truely gripe about paying a little more
for education of their (grand)children. |
|
County vehicles not used
for personal use. Cut bonuses starting at the top and
all the way down. get rid of one route specialist. cut
routes that have only a few students on them. cut CBI's
and field trips. establish a dress code instead of
uniforms. cut down on office supplies and extra paper
that is copied. utilize paid standby drivers to do
extra work, cleaning, washing buses. |
|
How much money per month
is the District spending on providing cell phones and
BlackBerries for employees? I believe the price tag is
pretty hefty. This could definitely be eliminated.
Text pagers are available for a much lower cost. Not to
mention that it is very annoying to sit in a meeting
while folks sit there tapping away on Blackberries when
they should be participating in the meeting. Get rid of
the cell phones and Blackberries and give only the folks
who need it the text pagers. |
|
To protect jobs,especially
in the classroom,can we consider the following
ideas?None of the ideas are original but I at least want
to provide my input for your consideration. 1)A 5%
paycut for all employees 2)Postpone the new reading
adoptions 3)Review the contracts for our DROP folks in
their 6 plus years(school level only) 4)Review
contracts for our most experienced staff who have
elected to not enter DROP who have 40+ years in the
classroom. 5)A retirement incentive that involves
benefits-many of our 30+ teachers would love to retire
but the benefits are the problem since they are not 65.I
know benefits are expensive but the difference in a
beginning teacher and a 30+ teacher salary is
significant. |
|
To save energy: 1.
Disconnect the hot water in the restrooms at ESF. Most,
if not all, of our schools do not have this luxury so we
can live without it as well. 2. Do all computer
upgrades/downloads over the weekend, allowing all
computers to be completely shut down every evening.
This would allow use to save 15+ hours of electricity
with each day for each of our computers in the
district. If emergency downloads are necessary,
information can be announced via email to complete the
process. |
|
In lieu of giving 12 month
employees pay raises give an extra week vacation. (1
week vacation is roughly equal to a 2% raise) Giving
more vacation costs nothing in the budget and is a cost
effective alternative to the morale busting option of
pay freezes when costs are rising. If there is money
for pay raises, then offering 12 months employees the
option of turning 2% of the raise into an extra weeks
vacation would save the amount of the raise, but also
the employer portion of increased retirement
contributions, social security, medicare, etc. |
|
I have four
recommendations for reductions: 1. Company vehicles
should only be used for site-to-site visits. Vehicles
used for the daily commute of employees to their work
site is an expense we could save at this critical
time. 2. The Wellness Dept. is a non-effective
dept. It is rarely utilized by our schools and depts.
Their current recommendations and responsibilities can
easily be handled by one person. 3. All peer
teachers located at ESF should be re-assigned back to
our classrooms utilizing their teaching experience and
helping us meet the student/teacher ratio. 4.
Employees who have completed "DROP" should not be
allowed to retain their position. When a employee is
nearing retirement, formal training should be given to
enable a lower paid candidate to step in and take over. |
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Remove the Assistant
Principal extra 14 days. Buildings will be ready to go
for students regardless of extra time. |
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I believe there can be
huge budget cuts in the schools by reducing the amount
of administrators,department heads,reading coaches and
other superfluous "job titles". As a school board
employee in a high school, I can see such waste in these
special positions, where the individual is not actually
teaching,however they are continuously going to
workshops, inservices,etc. and therefore do not have the
"time" to share this information with the rest of the
staff. Also, I have seen classes with 4 students in them
and others with 35. Two planning periods for high school
teachers is ridiculous. There are only 5 classes to
teach every day. In a 8 hour day including 30 minutes
for lunch, that is a total of 3 hours 40 minutes spent
with students. How do we explain this waste of money.
Are we truly servicing the students? |
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I recommend that the
district eliminate 12 month positions at the ESF offices
and close ESF offices and schools for July. This would
reduce the costs of utilities for each of those
settings. An alternate suggestion would be to have
shorter work days or hours, e.g. open only 9-12 or open
only Mon. - Thursday for summer schedule. I
especially think it is unnecessary for school
psychologists, behavior analysts, social workers,
staffing specialists, and other support staff to work
year round as students are not attending school. Due to
the new required ESE testing timelines, referrals are
being processed throughout the school year in a more
timely manner, so the need for summer testing no longer
exists. |
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Offer a voluntary layoff -
many people might be interested in this. Offer a buyout
- like corporations do. |
|
My wife and I each
volenteer more than 100 hours per year at Gardendale
Elm. on Merritt Island. We are concerned about cuts
being considered and offer this as background - GEMS
front office has three full time people, these
individuals fequently appear to be doing nothing of
importance to advance the education of students at GEMS.
My business ownership and management experience lead me
to beleive that what they are assigned to do could be
accomplished by 1 or 1.5 FTE's. This is our observation
of one school but the same situation likely exists at
many other schools in Brevard. These positions should be
cut before any teaching position is reduced or cut.
Thank you. The Gifford's at jgifford@cfl.rr.com |
|
My thoughts, for the north
area bus compound, cut some office staff, one sits with
little to do and the extra duty person in there is
clipping coupons and doing her check book. No need to
pay someone to do that. Get rid of our uniforms, that
would save money there and we have several that don't
wear them anyway. Get rid of cbi's, especially the ones
where we transport one or two students everyday, so they
can go to the mall and walk. Get rid of all bonuses.
Get rid of most field trips, especially the ones where
they take all the county to the south end of the county. |
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Flip the school start
times for middle school and high school like Orange
County will do. Will that save money on gas? |
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Like the next person I
wouldn't want to give up any of my benefits but what
about the $200 we get each year, to off set our
insurance charges. (The cafeteria 125 credits) With
10,000 some employees in the District giving this $200
back. It would be a sizable sum of money in savings,
while the employee would barely miss the $7.69 from each
check. After reviewing our budget cuts and overall
need, this seems to be a minmal request on our part to
help. |
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When there is a large
maintenance problem from deteriating schools I have seen
high labor costs of school employees rather than calling
outside professionals and getting a upgrade
replacement. Not to get specific but checkout the hours
put into Golfview's plumbing problem. It is still
backing up near the kitchen. |
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These cuts would come from
transportation dept. Stop ordering Bus Operator uniforms
and utilize uniform turn ins., Change re-certifications
of bus drivers to once every 2 years instead of every
year, change in-service day to day of training for bus
drivers, cut out some teacher/student workdays, company
vehicles should be left on work site property at end of
day and should be downsized to vehicles more gas
efficient, stop uniform cleaning services that county
pays for, stop unneccesary memos by posting one in each
compound, on BCPS website and over school bus radios,
stop Pepsi contract, or change, to remove from schools
and area work sites(some are locked during school hours
and can't be used anyways), Stop random drug testing to
use when hired and upon suspicion, cut back on specialty
programs, Stop ROPES program(how is it that a student
can be expelled from public schools and can't be on
property but they can get on a school bus which is
county property and be transported to an alternative
school, allow school buses to park at there homes, if
feasable, in between runs to save on mileage and gas.
They say we want no child left behind but if they cut
employee jobs in any area then they will be leaving
children behind due to the parents having to work 2 jobs
to maintain income and teh children will be left home
alone. Now we all know what that means for our
households and our children. |
|
On the secondary level,
paper use in the copiers can be reduced by setting the
copier to 75-50 percent reduce image, put two images on
one side and the next two images on the other side.
This equates to what would be 4 sheets one sided reduced
to one sheet double sided. Additionally, I see a
lot of waste in publishing information in hard copy when
it can be easily accessed on the computer. I usually
throw this away immediately. If I want a hard copy I
can print my own. |
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This can't be easy! The
funding reductions are quite large, and many of the
schools need more money, not less. Please try to keep
classroom sizes as small as possible and avoid cuts in
the programs that allow kids to have learning
experiences beyond the "3 R's" so the county will
continue to produce well-rounded graduates. Parental
contributions for sports uniforms and equipment could
help. I would gladly support a levy to make up for the
state's cuts. |
|
1)Raise temperature 1 or 2
degrees in our buildings. 2)Allow us to turn off
computers at night and on evenings. If ET needs to push
progarms through at night have only one area kepe them
on at night for ex: Mon-Area I, Tues-Area 2, etc 3)
Work 4 ten hours days in summer 4) Have all schools
shut down for a 1 or 2 week priod in the summer and this
is when 12 month would take vacation 5) Have employees
donate a day to help "save jobs" similar to what we do
for the sick leave bank but this would come from every
employee 6) Return some portables to the leasing
company at schools where the teachers could roam into
open classrooms. 6) Limit 9th grade sport programs 7)
Have custodians claen buildings/schools by wings in the
summer so that the AC only needs to run in the area they
working in this way the other areas could run at a
higher degree as long as the humidy is controlled. 8)
Have maintenance workers travel together in their
vehicles. |
|
First, go back to the 3
R's and eliminate all expenses that do not directly meet
a 3 R. Second, eliminate all sports teams. Third,
build sidewalks rather than buying buses. Fourth,
contract buses and operation of rather than the school
system owning and operating. Charge students for using
the buses. And for those that think they will drive
instead, they still have to pay the bus fee on top of
any parking fees. Fifth, if students and parents want
the items cut, let them come up with the funds. The
taxpayer should only be responsible for the 3 R's,
students and parents the rest. |
|
The Drop Program should be
discontinued. In it’s place a buy-out for senior level
teachers who have a minimum of 20 years experience and
minimum age of 55. The payment would be extended over 5
years. For example, if you have an incentive of $30,000
retiring at age 55 with 20 years. Paying the $30,000
over five years is $6,000 per year. You will off-set
the cost with a larger saving on the salary schedule. |
|
Remove resource officers
from selected elementary schools. I'm sure that most
resource officers are good but ours is not. He is
pretty useless and ineffective in many situations. |
|
Our district does not win
all of the awards and maintain as many "A" grade schools
by cutting staff... EVERYTHING should be done to make
sure we still hire all the teachers and support staff
needed to keep our class sizes small and ensure we do
the best to educate our children. Cuts could be made to
per student spending, benefits (have staff pay part -
that is how a layoff was avoided where my husband
works... everyone pays more for their health benefits
but NOBODY got layed off). We need to be creative and I
am sure our winning administration will do everything to
ensure that we are... we still have a high need for
teachers in critical shortage areas and to replace any
teachers retiring. I would hate to see the budget have
too much of an impact on tech in the classrooms. We came
to Brevard from NJ schools and were VERY nervous that we
would be going a step back. That has not been the case
at all and as a parent I want to be sure that it stays
that way! Thank you for taking the time to accept our
input - we are counting on you to help us through
this! - a concerned parent! |
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Re-examine last year's
decision to add 2 new guidance positions to many
middle/high schools. Has anyone really followed up to
see if these are really working out, really needed? I
don't think so, totally unecessary right now in the
grand scheme of things. These positions can be cut
before more essential ones could be cut. |
|
To reduce the daily
operating cost which includes utilities and bus
transportation by scheduling 5 additional Hurricane
days. If these days are not used during the school year
they would be taken at the end of the school year. The
savings of these 5 days would be reflected in the fiscal
budget. To make up for lost instruction time, the
school day would be lengthening by 30 minutes. The loss
of 5 days of instruction would be offset by the
additional time each day. |
|
Allowing the teachers to
work a few days in their classrooms during pre-planning
week rather than attending meetings, in-services, and
bus registration will benefit the school district. It
will benefit the school district by reducing the
electricty bill, as we now run the ac on the weekends
surrounding pre-planning, because most of us must set up
our classrooms on Saturday's and Sunday's due to the
lack of uninterrupted planning/set-up time available
during pre-planning week... |
|
staff cars, there are a
lot of your employees that have cars, they are used for
going back and forth for to work which includes the food
service staff at ESF and also facilities and
maintenance. Why do they get to have the district pay
for their gas when just us regular employees have to
drive our own cars back and forth. If they get to work
and have to go somewhere else like a school, then they
could use one of the cars that should be in the parking
lot. |
|
staff cars, there are a
lot of your employees that have cars, they are used for
going back and forth for to work which includes the food
service staff at ESF and also facilities and
maintenance. Why do they get to have the district pay
for their gas when just us regular employees have to
drive our own cars back and forth. If they get to work
and have to go somewhere else like a school, then they
could use one of the cars that should be in the parking
lot. It must cost the district alot of money for the
upkeep and gas for these cars and trucks, SUV's. No one
should be able to take a car home!!! |
|
There is a dept
(Wellness), isn't that just fluff, I believe we could do
without this before teachers are let go or programs are
cut |
|
Eliminate the two
unnecessary guidance positions that were approved this
past year. These positions were to be placed in the high
schools, middle schools and junior-senior high
schools. Teacher - Guidance Services Professional
School Data Clerk – Guidance |
|
1. Now that FCAT Writes is
not required for graduation, eliminate costs associated
with the practice writing test in September, e.g.
printing, workshop to write prompts, substitutes to
grade tests. 2. Eliminate ALL out of county travel
with the exception of FLDOE and USDOE required meetings
and travel required by an existing grant. 3. Mandate
that all grants currently funded be reviewed to
determine if the grant can be amended so that funds
already planned for travel can be used instead for
teacher training and student materials. WIth the loss
of NBCT mentoring hours, those staff development
expenses will come to the district. 4. Turn OFF all
hot water at ESF. 5. Eliminate monthly half day
meetings and require full-day meetings every other month
to cut back on in county travel. 6. Eliminate the
purchase of FCAT prep materials for 2008-2009. Schools
have plenty and the sentiment of the legislature is
clear. |
|
Reduce bussing. Have
choice schools attendees pay premium to help defray
cost. Increase Schoolage child care fee. |
|
Can the board considered
having a four day work week during the summer months to
conserve energy and save money on electricity. 12 month
employees could work a 10 hour work day and close
schools and some offices on Fridays. |
|
As a teacher, I have more
than enough text books and could go another 4 to 5 years
before I need any. Save money. No new text books. |
|
Ditch NBCT mentoring bonus
until it can be fair. Too many teachers fabricate their
hours and it's a waste of money. |
|
Reduce the number of bus
stops. Students who live 2 miles or less have to walk
to school, so bus stops can also be farther apart
without a significant detrimental effect to students.
Use only one bus stop per sub-division and combine
sub-divisions that are across the street from each
other. Replace paper towels holders with hand blow
dryers to cut paper supply costs as well as maintainance
in the bathrooms from clogged toilets and janitorial
costs to clean up bathrooms. Provide all
students/parents with passwords to Edline and encourage
the printing of homework assignments from home. Cut
one teacher inservice day per year. Individual schools
could hold school wide workshops based on local needs
-OR- Eliminate all inservice days but allow teachers to
gain inservice points via web-based instruction and
tutorials. Eliminate video budgets with the exception
of Video Streaming services. Raise the costs of
school lunches. Raise art and lab fees. Eliminate
the PSAT for all 10th graders. Only give PSAT to those
10th and 11th grade students who pay for the test.
Rely on Virtual School for credit make-up rather than
adult-ed and summer school. Increase student fees to
$5 per student. Set thermostats at 74 degrees in
every classroom/facility county wide. Eliminate the 7
period school day. Eliminate the careers class at
either the 7th or 9th grade levels. Allow for
part-time teaching positions without benefits.
Eliminate one support staff person per school (i.e.
office, guidance, media assistant). Consolidate
Educare Programs. |
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The temperature in Viera (ESF)
should be raised. It is "freezing" at ESF. Everyone I
know who visits there usually brings a sweater, while in
the schools, in many classrooms it is hot. Since
BPS is spending a fortune adopting a new reading
program, the publisher should inservice all elementary
teachers who teach reading for free. That is the least
they can do when we are spending all this money a time
like this. It is not enough to inservice a few people
and have them diseminate the information. I don't
know how you can do this now, with the current law, but
when I started teaching, school board members made less
than half of a new teacher. Their salaries should be cut
to show good will. The Superintendent, to show good will
should have no raise. Resource teachers should go
back to the classroom while this economy is in a crisis.
All title one teachers should have to teach classes.
This is not happening. Guidance counselors should
be seeing students and doing the child study team
paperwork, rather than having resourse VE teachers do
it. That is inefficient use of teacher time and costing
money. Push the state to have all FCAT companies
(publishers, graders, etc.) in Florida so that money is
made by Florida companies. Consider pushing the state to
have all FCAT in black and white while we are in this
crisis. Text books should be in color, but how much does
it cost to make FCAT in color? |
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Company vehicles should
not be driven to a school close to the employees house.
There are employees in ET that live near Merritt Island
High. They drive their car a 1/2 mile to Merritt Island
High and then get in a school board truck and drive all
the way to ESF. This is wrong. Unless the school board
is going to provide everyone this luxury, this needs to
stop. There is absolutely no reason for this to be
occurring. These employees need to drive to work (ESF)
just like everyone else. |
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There is no need to cut
back, if there is fight back. The governor has his head
up his backend as usual. The state is not taking big
hits this year but remember what goes around comes
around. I hope the state gets there backends kicked
next year till they can't see straight. Why schools? I
just do not figure it out. I tell you the whole state
of florida is so screwed up right now. All we need now
is one big huge hurricane and this state would not see
the light of day for another 5 years. |
|
I recently made a personal
purchase, at a local wharehouse store, for glue sticks
to use in my classroom. I purchased 15 glue sticks for
$4.99. On reviewing my science budget, I noticed that
the same item purchased from an approved vendor cost
$18.75 for 30 glue sticks. The glue sticks that I
purchased were larger and name brand but the approved
source cost almost twice as much. Would this be a good
time to revisit the approved vendors list? |
|
1. Close all schools and
offices for the entire month of July. 2. Shorter work
days or weeks for Summer. For example, work Monday
through Thursday or work 8:00 til 12:00 Monday through
Friday. 3. Change 12 month positions to 11 months.
Psychologists, Social Workers and Behavioral Analysts
are examples of positions that are not needed to work
all year given the time lines that they must follow. |
|
Cut the uniforms and field
trips, also there should be no company cars being used
for driving to and from work, and if they are cutting
drivers and time, they need to cut at the top also. |
|
Drug test the teachers and
staff and administration. That will get rid of some
teachers who shouldnt be teaching anyways. |
|
Take out the DROP. Cut
the 12 month staff down to 11 month positions. |
|
I would like to see all
the computer monitors, and classroom computers turned
off. This is expending a great amount of energy, even
when in hibernate mode. This is the right thing to do,
and will help defer your electric exspenses. There is no
need to leave the monitors on in the media rooms and
classrooms all night. |
|
One way to save a ton of
fuel costs is to do away with providing busing for out
of area students who CHOOSE to attend schools of choice.
It's not provided for students who attend schools out of
area. Why should these students be afforded "special
treatment" ?? |
|
I feel that if all the
school board members took a reduction in pay it would
help out in the budget. Once again the children will be
losing the services they need and deserve. They are our
future and you are taking away the people that can help
them to strive for the best. I wonder how long it will
be before you give yourselves another raise. |
|
It's not easy to find good
teachers, and I'm very positive to say that a lot of
annual contract teachers have been putting a lot of
efforts on their work for the best of the students.
Teaching is not a job, it requires a lot of efforts and
commitment to be a good teacher. Please save those
valuable teachers who are uncertain about their position
next year to let them prove that they can be great
teachers for a long time for our children. |
|
Several years ago, school
buses served both middle schools and high schools on the
same run. School starting times were coordinated and
much closer together so that middle school students
could be dropped off first, then high school students.
Today, we notice that many buses are only half full. It
would seem that reducing mileage by transporting two
levels on the same bus trip might save on fuel costs. |
|
Eliminate staff "take home
vehicles" obviously. If you feel that cannot be done for
whatever reason the employee should be made to pay for
the gas. It is a normal everyday thing that we pay for
our own gas to get to and from work afterall. Why do
they deserve such perks? The staff that has posession of
such vehicles make a hefty salary already. Make
better use of Maintenance vehicles in regard to where
they are parked in the evening and to which section of
the county they work in during the day. For example: Why
is a truck assigned to an employee that serves the South
county schools parked at night in Rockledge?
Wellness Department: It is very nice to have such extras
but not in this situation. In my opinion they serve the
employees not the students. Stop making exceptions
to the DROP rule. No one is irreplaceable. If someone in
a managerial/supervisory position is in DROP there has
been a 5 year period of time to train an individual to
be the replacement. This person would obviously be
making a smaller salary than the one who has been in the
system for 30+ years. The rule was made for a reason!!
It is my understanding that there are many on the
payroll that have returned by exceptions to this rule.
Many, many dollars could have been saved. Move to
paperless systems when possible. Encourage teachers
when possible to not use lighting in their rooms. Not as
ridiculous as it sounds, alot of time there is plenty of
natural light available. When pay raises are given,
give equal amounts to everyone. This is supposedly a
united team. Why would certain groups get 10% and others
get 4%? By the way the same groups seem to always get
the 10% it is never reversed! Stop providing buses
for athletic events. Most of these students have a |
