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RV Board Begins Hard Work of Cost Cutting

NEW BETHLEHEM, Pa. (RVO) by John Gerow – In response to the overwhelming defeat of the school property tax referendum on May 16, Dr. Chad Shaffer, President of the Redbank Valley School Board, called a special meeting of the Board on Tuesday, May 22 at 6:30 PM. Dr. Shaffer opened the meeting by saying that in light of the decisive vote, he wanted to gauge the Board’s sentiments before moving forward. The choice, he said, is whether to make substantial cuts now to begin bringing the budget back into balance, or to do nothing, and let the State Department of Education reorganize the District when all reserve revenues have been exhausted.


Director Darren Bain opened the discussion by saying that he hoped the Board could do something “in the middle”. He suggested “reinvesting” savings back into operating the district and cutting where the cuts would do the least damage to the fewest students.

Dr. Shaffer said that “human resources” represented the single largest expense item for the District and that significant cuts must come from this area. He said that larger class sizes may be necessary. Current student to teacher ratio in the district is 13 to 1. Dr. Shaffer asked Superintendent Drzewiecki what he was going to recommend for the Math teaching position that was going to come open due to a retirement. Mr. Drzewiecki said that at this point, he was going to recommend leaving that position open.

Board member Carrie Adams asked if making changes to the Math program was wise considering that the high school’s Math scores were not as good as they could be. Mr. Drzewiecki told her that Redbank’s scores were in the top three in Clarion County and at the state median.

Director Dee Bell said that he found it “ridiculous to think that we can do nothing. We have to be able to tell parents ‘No’, we can not afford to provide every possible service to every child in the district. We have to be able to tell parents that if they need more, then they need to find another school.

Bill Reddinger said that the Board needs to decide whether or not they are going to do the hard work. He said, “I’m tired of going to meetings just to go to meetings. We just can’t keep going round and round.”

Dr. Shaffer went on to say that he thinks that major cuts have to come in human resources and non-mandated high school programs. In order to make the faculty cuts, any furloughs must be done in June. Dr. Nair agreed saying, “Significant cuts have to be made in personnel.

Dee Bell moved that the Board go into Executive Session to begin discussing making the necessary personnel changes.

The Board’s next work session is scheduled for Wednesday, May 30 at 6:30 PM.

ABOUT:
Redbank Valley School District provides education services for the 165 square mile area of New Bethlehem and Hawthorn boroughs, and the townships of Mahoning, Madison, Porter, and Redbank of both Clarion and Armstrong counties.

MEETINGS:
The Redbank Valley School Board meetings the first Monday of every month at 7pm at the High School Library.

CONTACT:
For more information about the Redbank Valley School District, please call 814.275.2426 or visit RedbankValley.org/pg/biz/redbank-valley-school-district

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