{"id":3104,"date":"2012-04-03T14:00:55","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T18:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=3104"},"modified":"2012-04-05T11:47:08","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T15:47:08","slug":"tough-times-mean-staffing-cuts-and-program-reductions-for-kcsd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=3104","title":{"rendered":"Tough times mean staffing cuts and program reductions for KCSD"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kennett Consolidated School District Board discusses coping strategies to keep above water for the 2012-2013 school year<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio, <\/strong>Staff Writer, KennettTimes.com<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Cutting free school bus service is among the options being mulled as the Kennett Consolidated School District attempts to close a budget deficit.<\/p><\/div>\n

KENNETT SQUARE \u2014 Many of Pennsylvania’s districts are feeling the fiscal pinch these days due to Harrisburg\u2019s tight purse strings. Even\u00a0 districts such as Kennett Consolidated School District \u2014 which has a better tax base than many districts in the area \u2014\u00a0 are considering increasingly desperate measures in order to stay operational.<\/p>\n

KCSD, like many of its neighbors, has been hit hard by losses in local real estate taxes, both with interim and transfer taxes dwindling to low numbers \u2014 and property reassessments, which have lowered the local tax base.<\/p>\n

To compound this problem, changes in billing practices by Independence Blue Cross\u2014resulting in higher than anticipated health care insurance costs for faculty and staff to the tune of $465,000 \u2014 leaves the district finding itself with a much more difficult financial situation than expected even just a few months ago.<\/p>\n

District Business Manager Mark Tracy indicated that through certain actions the district was able to stem some of the bleeding, however, the increase of revenues and the moderate decrease to the deficit did not come without sacrifice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not in a position where we\u2019re trying to save a few dollars here or there,\u201d KCSD Superintendent Dr. Barry Tomasetti said, \u201cWe\u2019re looking at survival. We have to think about the long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n

The effort to reduce expenditures has resulted in some of the following measures:<\/p>\n

\u25cf<\/strong> <\/strong>Elimination of a middle school level Special Education position; this occurred after the retirement of the former occupant. Duties are currently being performed by a long-term substitute teacher.<\/p>\n

\u25cf <\/strong>Re-assignment\u00a0of a Bancroft Elementary teacher to a long-term substitute position.<\/p>\n

\u25cf <\/strong>Elimination of <\/strong>six student-worker technology positions. These positions consisted of computer lab monitoring duties.<\/p>\n

\u25cf <\/strong>Reduction of the summer maintenance crew by 50%.<\/p>\n

\u25cf <\/strong>Reduction of $75,000 in capital improvement projects.<\/p>\n

\u25cf <\/strong>Possible reduction of full-day kindergarten at Mary D. Lang to extended half-day sessions.<\/p>\n

\u25cf <\/strong>Implementation of an energy curtailment plan; in times of high energy demand the district will pull its facilities off the power grid, thereby allowing the district to receive credit from the power company.<\/p>\n

KCSD is also considering the implementation of an athletic\/band participation fee in order to bolster its coffers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe option that we have recommended is $40 per student per season,\u201d Tracy said, \u201cAt the high school that will generate approximately $37,240 and at the middle school approximately $17,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some members of the Board expressed concern that the introduction of a fee would drive both potential and veteran players and musicians away; however, the general consensus among KCSD Board members was that its implementation was necessary due to the extreme financial duress the district currently faces.<\/p>\n

In addition to the implementation of the activities fee, the Board also considered modifying the district\u2019s current busing arrangement. While not at the decision-making phase, the Board mulled over the possibility of eliminating busing at the high school, middle school, or elementary school level. The alternative would be to offer a pay-to-ride system for those opting to take the bus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kennett Consolidated School District Board discusses coping strategies to keep above water for the 2012-2013 school year By P.J. D\u2019Annunzio, Staff Writer, KennettTimes.com KENNETT SQUARE \u2014 Many of Pennsylvania’s districts are feeling the fiscal pinch these days due to Harrisburg\u2019s tight purse strings. Even\u00a0 districts such as Kennett Consolidated School District \u2014 which has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[493,533,184,534],"class_list":["post-3104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-budget-2012","tag-cut","tag-kennett-schools","tag-school-buses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}