To Include Furlough Days

During the April 26th Bamberg One school district board of trustees meeting, the trustees voted to approve the 2011-2012 school calendar that will include furlough days for teachers and administrators. Teachers will be required to take five non-instructional days off without pay. State mandates require administrators to be issued twice as many furlough days as teachers. The furlough days for teachers and administrators have been prescheduled to be taken throughout the upcoming school year. Superintendent Phyllis Schwarting said “I feel that we will get more budget cuts. We must start early preparing. These changes will save jobs,” she noted.

Schwarting said the district is taking measures that she hopes will help to save all of the district’s employees’ positions. In addition to issuing furloughs, for the second year in a row, the board will require retires to take a twenty percent salary cut if they want to remain employed with this district. Schwarting said when the district took this step (20% salary reduction) for the current school year, “none of the retirees complained about the salary cut.” Schwarting said she doesn’t expect anyone to complain about the cuts for next year. “The retirees would rather take a pay cut than to see people out of work,” noted Schwarting. The superintendent said the district also plans to save money by requiring all coaches to have a CDL (commercial driver’s license) and by not replacing several teachers who are leaving for a variety of reasons.

The trustees also received architectural advice for the bond referendum construction project from Louis P. Batson, III, president of Batson Architects, Inc. Batson’s firm is not competing for the project’s contract. At the request of the district’s attorneys, the architect was asked to advise the district on how to effectively proceed with the referendum project. Batson is predicting a July 2012 completion date for the new elementary school. BOT chair, Dr. Dale Padgett wanted to know if the process could be expedited by using the plans of an existing new school. “If there is an existing design that you like, it would be worth the district’s time to visit it,” said Batson. The BOT was advised about the critical nature of selecting the right personnel to meet the district’s (construction) expectations. Batson said while the cost of the elementary school can be predicted pretty well because it is a new project, he said the district may want to reserve as much money as possible for the renovations of the middle and high schools. “With renovations, you don’t know what you might run in to, especially with the high school.” Batson said he was impressed with the construction of the middle school, especially the gymnasium.

In an interview with the superintendent on Tuesday, April 27th, she said the district has been advised to not select a site for the new school without the input of the architect that the district will ultimately hire.

In other business

• The superintendent recognized various students, staff members and individual schools for a variety of accomplishments.

• Gave the second reading on modifications four existing districting policies relating to health concerns.

• Heard a financial report from the district’s finance director. The board recessed to discuss contractual.