Sad, but necessary.  Nobody really has the tax dollar$ to cough up to refill the cupboard and hopefully this is taken into consideration.

It is sad that we as a nation tried to one up each other and have a bigger house and a nicer car than our neighbors. I hope the new Coach purses you couldn’t afford and the debt you carried was all worth it. Try saving for things and buying a home you can afford so our children don’t pay when you can’t anymore.

This is sad indeed.  I don’t understand why they don’t run an all day kindergarten instead of running the busses 4x a day to shuttle the kids around? What a waste of gas.  And this late start time, what a joke. Are they are hoping to make up money by charging parents $110 each kid to take them from 6:30 am until school starts? And they leave unnecessary lights on in the bus barn all nite and over long weekends.  I have 5 kids in the district.  What would happen if I moved those kids to another district? I know that’s a lot of money for the distict to lose, but things like this make me wonder about the quality of the administration on down.

Immagine how much money could be saved if athletics were completely eliminated. why is it that the first things cut are always academic? the athletic depart loses the least money, why? Why continue to support somthing that is only used by the minority of the students? as far as the lights all night at the bus barn, they never used to do that. then some punk broke in and set fire to a brand new bus as a prank. now they leave the lights on for the security cameras. busses only cost about 250,000 each you know.

I am frustrated by the Sedro Woolley School District Adminstration’s lack of concern for the children and the teachers. They are focused on filling teacher slots with whoever, thus affecting the teachers who do work hard for their student’s lives, their futures. The teachers should be respected, not treated as if they are unnecessary. Parents need to speak up for their children’s education and demand what is right as well.

As I read the sad reality for the SW school district, I stopped and inwardly groaned as I read the following comment, ”...many teachers are unwilling to fill in the cuts with personal time.” This comment jumped off the page at me because as a former teacher who, like some (not as many as they might claim), filled demands with my personal time. It all came down to what I was willing to do to be the best teacher that I could be and what did I want to provide for my students.

I finally reached a point where I made the decision to quit this profession, not because of the demands of the job or the kids, but rather the mindset of many teachers and administration, as shown with this comment. In this article we are talking not only about the current financial impact on jobs, but more importantly, what those cuts will mean for the kids in the classrooms. If I could wave my magic wand, I would fire all of these teachers who are less than dedicated and hire all of the unemployed teachers who are willing to give to this profession, as it requires.

It is sad that our school dollars continue to get cut. I don’t know what the answers are but cutting athletics is not one of them. I have two children that have graduated from Sedro Woolley Highschool and one that is a Junior this year. I agree that academics are the most important area that our dollars need to be spent, but cutting athletics all together is not the answer. The Sedro Woolley youth programs and school sports have taught my kids things that can not be taught in a classroom. It has helped them build character, taught them team work, leadership, social skills, how to deal with disappointment etc… Although my children were never 4.0 students, they have never been in any trouble. They don’t have time!! My family has made life long friends that have come from being a part of athletics in our community. GO CUBS!!!

What about having independently funded athletics programs rather than using public school funds?  I believe this has worked for some schools, where the community and atheletes raise the money to support the program.  It would bring the community together, and give folks a good reason to come out and catch a game too.  :)

First off, before we start talking about making more cuts that impact the kids (cutting athletics completely) lets look at what other areas could be cut.  I haven’t seen that the district office administration has been impacted.  They cut elementary principals, teachers and programs, but we have how made “Executive Directors” in our district.  Couldn’t one of those, or more, been cut or downsized?  I would love to see the SVH do a story on now the “District Administration” is being impacted by all of this, and not just in Sedro-Woolley but all the Skagit area school districts.  I agree with GOCUBS! that children learn lessons in sports as well as the classroom so cutting athletics isn’t the answer.  As a taxpayer in this district I am very frustrated with the amount of money wasted on “district administration” that don’t do their job efficiently.  CUT VENN not sports or teachers!

As I read the sad reality for the SW school district, I stopped and inwardly groaned as I read the following comment, ”...many teachers are unwilling to fill in the cuts with personal time.” This comment jumped off the page at me because as a former teacher who, like some (not as many as they might claim), filled demands with my personal time.

If a teacher wants to volunteer his/her time that should be up to them, not something expected of them. We don’t expect that of other professionals we hire. Teachers I’ve known give all they can and are committed to the kids. What about community volunteers? My spouse and I volunteer regularly in our school district, even though we don’t have kids that go there anymore. We find it very rewarding to engage the kids and are happy to help out in the classroom. Parent organizations could really make an impact by recruiting more classroom volunteers. And in these hard times shouldn’t we not expect it all to be done for us? Education is important to the community and indeed the nation itself. Just 1 or 2 hours a week would be a big help. Show your support for education and make a difference in our children’s lives.