By Janet Chabola

After sitting for two hours on Tuesday night listening to our School District employees beg to keep their jobs, I was about as sad as I have been in a long time. 

For those who don't bother to pay attention to the finances of our School District, mainly District employees, the news was a surprise and shocking to them.
 
For regular attendees and active participants, the scenario was merely more of the same.  Four years of trimming the fat, shuffling around staff and keeping cuts away from students. All of that is over now.  There is no fat left to trim. 

Yes, union leaders, there is no fat to trim — even in the District office!
 
If you all thought that 5 furlough days were tough on you, the option of spreading the pain throughout the District was more distasteful than Listerine. 

Several community members proposed small cuts in salary to stave off pink slips. But union leaders would have nothing to do with that.  They wanted cuts everywhere so long as it didn't affect them.
 
Well, now, the piper has come for his due. 

Lo and behold. 

Just before 10 p.m., it became clear that no one had to lose his/her job after all!  Nine furlough days would save everyone's job, according to Ali Delawalla, Assistant Superintendent/Business Services.

The question: Wouldn't it be better, educationally, for the students if the entire staff of the District took small pay cuts and kept the students in school?

Are they really all about the students? 

It is easy for the contract language to include the bump back to the higher salaries once the state begins to fund the schools appropriately.  The union now has some options to bring to the bargaining table.

How about you continue to offer to take the 5 furlough days and accept across- the-board reductions of salary to meet the amount the District needs to cut from its budget? 

When I say this, I am proposing that every employee share in the same percentage reduction as well as the furlough day reduction.

The union leaders will be heroes to their members for preserving jobs, the School Board will have fulfilled its obligation to preserve the solvency of the District, and the teachers and all District employees will have made a sacrifice for the students. 

You will also be heroes to the community for having the courage to take these steps.

Ms. Chabola may be contacted at janetchabola@yahoo.com