Tuesday, May 24, 2011
The Manatee County School Board will have to trim $11 million this year to balance the budget. That could mean unpaid leave for many school employees.
To obtain the $11 million in spending cuts needed to balance next year’s budget, the Manatee County School Board will have to consider unpaid furloughs up to six days for some employees, elimination of school resource officers in elementary schools and outsourcing some school custodial work. These were some of the recommendations Schools Superintendent Tim McGonegal presented to the school board at its meeting Monday. McGonegal said these dire economic times were the worst he has seen in the 30 years he has been in education. “I don’t see us bouncing back (from the revenue shortfall),” he said. “The current situation is our new economic reality.” Reduced property and sales taxes and cuts in state funding have left the school district with …
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Chairman Bob Gause said the problem needed to be dealt with because it has become a distraction to the board working on other issues.
Looking to bring the problem of a $9.4 million shortfall in the Manatee County School District health care insurance fund closer to a resolution, Chairman Bob Gause asked his fellow Manatee County School Board members to discuss the issue Monday. Gause passed out a colored chart that illustrated the performance of the fund over the past 10 years, explaining that Schools Superintendent Tim McGonegal needed direction from the board on how to proceed in filling this funding gap. The school board is getting prepared to develop the budget for the next fiscal year, July 1, 2011-June 30, 2012, and Gause wanted to get a consensus from the board if it wants to follow the plan it approved last September of paying down the debt over three years or to…
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Development and implementation of the Manatee Core Curriculum program is in its fifth and final year.
With next year’s budget discussions and teacher contract negotiations working their way through the process, the Manatee County School Board dealt with less weightier issues Monday at its regular meeting. One agenda item was an update on the Manatee Core Curriculum project, a five-year examination and rewriting of the school district’s curriculum that started in 2006 for four subject areas: English language arts, mathematics, science and social studies. Linda Guilfoyle, leader of the Core Curriculum Team, told the board members with the aid of an animated slide show that last year the elementary and secondary school teacher design teams finalized the class unit overviews for reading, writing, mathematics, science, social studies and music …
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011
One worker was suspended without pay for alleged insubordination and misconduct, and the other was fired for not reporting a possible child abuse incident.
After opening their meeting with the achievements of music students and National Merit Scholarship finalists Monday, the Manatee County School Board had to deal with two employee issues. On the agenda were the suspension of a teacher’s aid and the termination of a cafeteria manager. Scott Martin, staff attorney for the school district, outlined the allegations against Dareki Daniels-Youmans. Daniels-Youmans was issued a written reprimand for excessive absences and tardiness, Martin said. She also was insubordinate when she ignored the directives of the principal of Samoset Elementary School and the teacher she was assigned to assist, he said. According to a report to the school board, Daniels-Youmans missed 31.4 days of work during the …
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Monday, February 14, 2011
Each day, Bradenton Patch offers five quick things to keep in mind.
1. Happy Valentine's Day (to those who celebrate) ... still looking for a last-minute gift or dinner reservation? Browse our local business directory. 2. Spring training update: Pitchers and catchers are here! The Pittsburgh Pirates will take part in their first workout at noon today at Pirate City. Here's everything you need to know. 3. Traffic watch: A temporary closure of Seventh Street West north of Manatee and Fourth avenues west will begin at 7 p.m. Monday and last until 6 a.m. Wednesday. The closure is necessary for Florida Department of Transportation crews to install a new water line across Seventh Street West along the north side of Manatee Avenue. Business access will be available from Fourth Avenue West and Eighth Street West…
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
School board members want to review complaints over pay stub confusion.
School bus drivers' lingering dissatisfaction over paycheck issues has led some School Board of Manatee County members to call for a meeting to review the complaints. Bus driver Jerome Heaven, 52, told the board at Monday night's meeting he and other drivers need clarification on a new payroll software system that changed the way their hours and pay are calculated and distributed. "There's something seriously wrong in the transportation department with paychecks," Heaven said. "We can't figure out our paychecks, how we're getting paid." The confusion stems from the new software, put in place by the district at the start of the school year, that changed drivers' base pay from seven and a half hours to six. Under the new system, when drivers…
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Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Transportation newsletter says kindergartners, first-graders should be dropped off without parents present at bus stop, contrary to official policy.
Manatee County school bus drivers say a new procedure is forcing them to drop off children as young as kindergartners at bus stops even if a parent is not present, one of a host of issues raised by more than two-dozen drivers at Monday's school board meeting. Schools superintendent Tim McGonegal disputes the claim that such a policy was ever put in place, even though a December newsletter circulated by the district's transportation department says otherwise in a section titled "Policy Clarification." "Any student kindergarten through 12th grade can be dropped off at a stop without a parent or guardian present," the newsletter states. "It is the parent's responsibility to decide how they want their children to get to and from their assigned…
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Friday, January 7, 2011
Board members outline their 2011 goals in the face of a continued budget crunch, then look ahead to 2020.
For Chairman Robert Gause, operating within a shrinking budget is the No. 1 goal for the Manatee County School Board in 2011. Reducing the district's dropout rate and improving its graduation rate are at the top of Vice Chair Harry Kinnan's list. And for Julie Aranibar, improving technical job training for Manatee students should be a primary focus. School Board members outlined their goals for the new year at Thursday's work session, taking into account budget shortfalls and pressures from state legislators. The Manatee district is already facing up to a $1.1 million fine for violating state class-size limits, which Superintendent Tim McGonegal said he plans to be compliant with in 2011-12. "This is a year when we're going to have to …
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Mike Farnham
11:58 am on Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Has anyone seen that giant complex they have built out East for the Busses, etc.? It's over by Mixon fruit farms. I can see why teachers will be laid off, that place is huge and expensive looking. Maybe they should hold off on projects like that when the Economy is like it is. more ›