“The only two ways to generate revenue in a district is to pass a levy or make cuts, and we are one of many districts doing both,” Parr said.
The positions that will be eliminated and the dozens of programs that will be cut or reduced for next year include:
• The kindergarten program, which went to a full-day format this year, will be scaled back to a half-day. There will be an option for full-day kindergarten on a tuition basis.
• Sports programs will lose their assistant varsity coaches, freshman coaches and conditioning coordinators.
The athletic director position will be cut by 50 percent. The district also will discontinue busing athletic teams within the district, and increase pay-to-participate fees from $50 to $100 per athlete, per sport.
• Extracurriculars to be cut include the Muse Machine, high school intramurals, S.A.D.D. (Students Against Driving Drunk), French Club, Spanish Club, Math Counts and Interact Club.
• Among the licensed, certificated and certified staff members, the district will lose a librarian and a curriculum supervisor, cut the positions of vocational agriculture teacher and gifted teacher by 50 percent, cut the counselor 25 percent and replace the junior high principal from within the district.
• Of the classified staff, the positions of seven instructional and special education aides, two custodians, two library aides, two office aides, two bus drivers, one building secretary, an aide at the high school, one cafeteria worker will be lost.
• Among the many other cuts, the district will no longer have Ohio Achievement Assessment tutoring, field trips and professional development; will reduce extended school and after-school detention; and delay adopting new instructional materials.
• The district also will increase the busing radius from one mile to two miles.
“The tough cut was the teachers,” school board Vice President Tom Geglein said. “Everything (here) is not good, but whenever you’re dealing with the staff, that hurts. It’s an emotional time for everybody.”
Many Valley View residents spoke at Monday’s school board meeting regarding one of the few cuts that had been realized at the time — the reduction in time for the vocational agriculture teacher, Jenna Genson.
Community members were concerned that this reduction could mean an elimination of the program at the rural district in southwest Montgomery County, since Genson is the district’s only vocational agriculture instructor.
Parr said the program is among those, including Future Farmers of America and Family and Consumer Science, that will not be eliminated.
Jon Vincent, a former educator with the Montgomery County Educational Service Center and current Valley View substitute, said the district has been holding community meetings regarding the financial state of the district this spring, but there has been some sentiment that those meetings are more focused on the levy and less on financial details.
Valley View, which let an operating levy expire in 2009, and New Lebanon are the only school districts in Montgomery County that also receive income tax revenue. The millage of the November property tax levy has not been released.
According to its five-year forecast, Valley View spent $19.6 million in 2011, and expects to spend $18 million in fiscal year 2012 and $18.2 million in 2013. Valley View, a district of around 2,000 students who live in Germantown and Farmersville, has earned the state’s top report card rating of “Excellent with Distinction” for the last two years.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7325 or jikelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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