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Two 2 hour delays in one week – this is hard on all of us.  Several parents have let me know that it’s particularly difficult when there’s the possibility that the delay may be upgraded to a full cancellation.  I understand.  Here’s the deal – When I decide on a 2 hour delay, I base this on information suggesting that weather conditions are changing and the roads will be better later in the morning.  There’s always the chance that this will turn out not to be the case. If at 8am it appears that the roads won’t be safe, I start the process of contacting everyone for a cancellation.

The P&F meeting scheduled for Thursday night has been postponed until next Thursday.  I hope you can make it!

Our budget for next year was finalized at Tuesday’s school board meeting.  In an effort to keep the increase in our bottom line under 5% the teachers have agreed to no raise other than the one they receive as they move up a year on the pay scale.  The rest of the staff will receive a 2% increase.  We hope this keeps up with the cost of living.  We have scrutinized the budget and are keeping line items for materials and supplies as low as possible.  Despite our best efforts, we also had to make cuts to some of our special programs. There will be less instructional time for Spanish, Band, and Poetry.  Spanish will once again be limited to 5^th-8^th grade though I’m hoping to still fit in some songs and games at the lower grades.  Band’s schedule will have to be tightened up so that it all takes place in the morning.  The number of classes for Poetry is reduced from 43 to 37 and the teachers, Ann, and I will work together to see what that means for each class.  The budget for Rhythms was reduced but fortunately this shouldn’t impact the amount of instruction.

This is not good news but it could be much worse.  We will still be able to provide a rich and varied instructional program.  We will continue to make use of college work-study students, teacher interns, and, of course, all the wonderful parent and community volunteers who share their talents.