GSD cost-savings task force prepares to cut $500k

The Glenrock School District has instituted a cost saving task force to prepare for the possible $484,000 in state cuts coming in March.
The Wyoming Legislature has been considering cuts to education for the last few months, and Superintendent Coley Shadrick wants the community to be prepared for the worst.
“The staff that are the closest to the kids don’t view the system as a business,” Shadrick said. “The further you get away from the classroom, I think it becomes less about the kids and more about a business model.”
More than 30 teachers, school board members and parents gathered Nov. 30 at the Glenrock Intermediate School to brainstorm ideas to save money, all without firing any staff.
“If you get rid of teachers then you get rid of families, if you get rid of families then you negatively affect business, if you negatively affect business, then our community suffers,” Shadrick said.
Attendees learned how the district’s budget is put together and they were provided insights into the intricacies of the finance system by GSD Business Manager Tamara Price. She explained GSD has been working with a cushion for the years they have been previously cut, but this year that cushion is going to lose its padding.
Some of the ideas that circulated were:
• Meat donations
• One central office
• Using graduate students
• Floating teaching staff between buildings
• Use EWC for trade training
• More efficient bus routes
• Reducing to a four-day week
• Combining schools
• Online programs to entice home schooled children

The most popular ideas seemed to be reducing the school week down to four days and combining schools.
Social studies teacher Ryan Collier encouraged the four-day school week, citing studies showing students scored higher if their week was shortened and saying the shorter week would save money without having to cut any staff.
“When you start removing teachers from the classroom, that is were you start to aeffect education,” Collier said.
Another popular idea among the group was to remove the administration building and bring the staff into one of the schools.
If a four day week was initialized, Fridays would become a challenge for parents looking for day car, but Glenrock Boys and Girls Club Executive Vice President Brandy Popp stepped in to offer help.
Currently, the Boys and Girls Club resides in the rec center and is paying rent every month. If they move out and into a wing of one of the schools, they  won’t need to pay rent and can offer more care to students in the GSD, Popp said.
The task force is set to have regularly scheduled meetings at least every month and any member of the public is encouraged to attend.
“I don’t think they see those kids, they don’t see those eyes. All you have to do is go to the legislature and they’re making the most crucial decisions that impact what happens in the classroom, but they are so far removed I don’t think they see the impact of their decisions,”Shadrick said. “We do have to address cuts, but it doesn’t have to be just our (administrations) ideas to look forward.”