Lakeview district forum set

By Tim Yovich

More staff cuts, a reduction in pupil transportation and institution of fees face the Lakeview School District.

CORTLAND — With the sound defeat of a 7.5-mill levy earlier this month, schools Superintendent Robert Wilson wants to know just what kind of schools the community wants.

He has called a special board meeting and community forum for 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Lakeview High School cafeteria.

“We want to know how to preserve the future of our schools,” Wilson said of Wednesday’s forum. “It’s their schools.”

The five-year additional levy, if it had passed, would have generated $2 million annually in new money.

“We have to find out just what kind of schools our community wants,” Wilson said Friday, noting he wants to ask the community how it wants to pay for education.

Before the March 4 levy failure, the superintendent explained, the board had eliminated the position of curriculum director, six teachers and a custodian.

“Nonetheless, students have maintained excellent academic standards,” he pointed out.

Wilson said that for the 2008-09 school year, six more teachers will be laid off and pupil transportation will be reduced to the state minimum.

Pupils in kindergarten through eighth grade are being transported if they live more than two miles from school.

He noted that a pay-to-participate policy for extracurricular activities will be instituted, although the fee schedule hasn’t been determined.

The cost-saving measures are being taken, Wilson said, so the district has a balanced budget for the 2008-09 school year — and not a $900,000 anticipated shortfall.

The district is spending below the state average per pupil, he noted. Lakeview spends $7,474 per pupil compared with the state average of $9,343.

The teachers have taken wage freezes, Wilson added.