NORTH MANCHESTER - Manchester Community School Corp. faces a $900,000 deficit in the budget, due to state cuts in funding.
At its February meeting, the Manchester School Board approved a motion cutting 17 jobs and reducing hours for seven more. The jobs eliminated were made up of classroom aides and custodians.
Now administrators at the school corporation are working on a list they hope they will not need to use."We are moving ahead with the RIF (reduction in force) list," said Superintendent Dr. Diana Showalter, adding that she hopes the list is short or not needed at all.
Until the exact amount of the budget reduction is known, the school corporation is working to reduce spending in whatever way possible.
According to Business Manager Steve Shumaker, the reduced budget is about what the school was spending in 2006, but that amount is being used to pay 2010 prices for gasoline, equipment and other expenses.
But, Shumaker said, Manchester is not alone.
"Fort Wayne (schools), Indianapolis (schools). Everybody's in the same boat," Shumaker said about the budget reductions.
Manchester Community Schools also is looking at a strategic planning proposal with Wabash City Schools. The school corporations are trying to find ways to share expenses on regularly used items to save money. The proposal is still in the planning stages, but the two corporations are looking at their options.
The board also heard about a summer lunch program that Manchester Community Schools now qualifies for. The USDA-funded program provides free lunches for children ages 1 to 18 during the summer months. The program is 100 percent funded by the USDA at no cost to the school.
In order to participate in the program, students must eat on-site and parents are not allowed to eat the children's food. Food also is not allowed to be taken home.
School systems with elementary schools that have at least 50 percent of students qualifying for free or reduced lunches are eligible for the program.
Any child between the ages of 1 and 18 is eligible for the program, regardless of their parents' income. Children who eat lunch at the school also do not have to be Manchester Community Schools students.
Lunches will be served at Manchester Elementary and Manchester Intermediate schools, and breakfast and lunch will be served at Manchester High School.
There is no sign-up for the program, which begins the day after school ends and ends the day before school starts. No lunches will be served on Memorial Day or July 4.
In other business, the school board:
- Approved the employment of David Brokop as volunteer Manchester Junior High School track coach; Allison Gallahan as volunteer junior high track coach; Margaret Orzeske as assistant softball coach at Manchester Junior-Senior High School; Sandy Shipley as volunteer softball coach at MJSHS; Don Stone as boys head golf coach and MJSHS; and Terry Richardson as bus aide for MCS.
- Approved a motion to rescind the termination of Linda Immel, media assistant at MIS, and Joyce Shock as media assistant at MES.
- Heard that a group of elementary students in Annie Clark's class raised more than $2,360 to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The students put cans in local businesses and asked other students to donate.
Manchester School Board members are Steve Flack, Kent Terrill, Steve Lambert, Brian Schilling, Jan Fahs, Tony Miller and Sally Krouse, president.
