By Lori EhdeThe activities director and middle school counselor became the first casualties in Luverne School District’s battle to trim expenditures to meet shrinking revenues.At their Thursday, May 8, meeting, School Board members unanimously approved resolutions that left first-year Middle School Counselor Kristi Groth and 3 1/2-year Activities Director Harvey Crable out of jobs.Discontinuing the positions saves the district approximately $48,000. The board will not rehire to fill those part-time positions.Elementary Counselor Marie Atkinson-Smeins advised the board to not leave middle school students without a counselor."Middle school years are very difficult for students," she said. "They need a counselor to talk to about peer pressure concerns, smoking, drugs and alcohol, divorce, making friends, bullying, death, etc. Someone needs to be available to the students when crises occur."With future cuts spreading additional workload on fewer teachers and staff, she said she worries the students will fall through the cracks.She also read a letter submitted by former middle school counselor Keith Erickson."The issues confronting young people are not decreasing, rather, its on the increase," he said. "Please take a long hard look at this possible void in our school system…"He also pointed out that middle school counseling can end up saving the district resources by identifying students in trouble and preventing future academic failure that often results from personal crisis.Pointing to decreasing enrollment and decreasing state support for education, Superintendent Vince Schaefer recommended the board approve the cuts."These recommendations that are on the table tonight have been struggled with for a long time, with respect to budget restraints," he said."We have $200,000 that needs to be cut from the expenditure column, and it’s also a negotiating year."Current step increases are 3.5 to 4 percent, and health insurance costs for Luverne District are increasing about 10 percent. "It’s unfortunate that we have to release good people from their positions because of the almighty dollar, but we need to remain fiscally responsible to be viable in the future."There wasn’t much discussion at the meeting before the vote, but board member Don Bryan later shared that he feels people may be focusing too much on the negative aspect of these decisions."The district is still a wonderful place to educate children. We have an excellent administration and staff," Bryan said."I keep thinking back to my time in the military when I saw so many children who had nothing, and I think how fortunate we are in southwest Minnesota."He also pointed out that Luverne is well-situated to cut the half-time middle school counselor position because the new middle school principal, Stacy Gillette, has a background in counseling.In other business,Thursday, the board:oApproved a surplus auction scheduled for 6 p.m. June 10, on the blacktop by the bus garage.Items to be auctioned include a 1988 Chevy Suburban with 156,000 miles, a 1984 GMC passenger bus with 74,325 miles, a Rockwell/Delta radial arm saw, a Rockwell table saw, a band sander, set of IT tractor manuals, 6-foot tables, chain link fencing in 50-foot lengths, computers and miscellaneous printers and audio visual equipment.oHired Lori Christensen as Spanish teacher and assistant softball coach.oApproved a three-year teacher mobility extended leave of absence for high school choir director Beth Behal. She will return for school year 2006-07, or notify the district by February 2006 of her plans.Behal declined to say why she requested the leave, but board member Cary Radisewitz wished her well. "Hope your journey finds you back in Luverne," he said. "You’ve done a nice job with our kids."oHeard a report by Schaefer that the Luverne School Foundation had officially received it’s first two checks in the amount of $500 each.oHeard a report by Elementary Principal Melody Tenhoff that the Luverne School Patrol program received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the Minnesota State Patrol for promoting school traffic safety. Elementary teacher Loel Olson is the School Patrol director.oTenhoff also reported that 346 elementary students watched no TV during TV Turn-Off Week in April.
