OK to be subjective about budget cuts

A number of Hersey students took a "field trip" to a District 214 board meeting tonight and learned a valuable lesson. It is a lesson that many adult decision-makers in District 214 have either forgotten or never learned: When dealing with people, it is not always prudent to be objective.

The district and high school took an objective approach to balancing the budget by eliminating the guitar program and thereby reducing the orchestra director's position to part time. This will cause the current director to leave in order to have full time employment.

During the public comment period, people spoke of the importance of a full-time orchestra director and the impact the current program has had on students.

While the board's rules prohibited naming any staff, it was very clear that the intent of the comments was to not only present a case for a full-time orchestra director but for a particular orchestra director, namely the incumbent, Mr. William Baar.

One student fought back tears as she spoke of the impact the current program and director have had on her. Another spoke of what the program has meant to him, his family and friends.

At the previous board meeting, the room was packed with dozens of parents and students, some of whom stood in the back of the room and cried at the prospect of losing their director. These people were not reacting objectively but with emotion, and all of the subjectivity that is, for some reason, typically discouraged when making tough budget decisions.

While savings may be realized by replacing a piece of machinery with a more efficient one that produces the same results, this does not work when replacing people with less costly ones. Skills not easily replaceable are lost. Chemistry between the students and teacher is not easily achieved. Mutual respect and admiration develops slowly, if at all.

People are not interchangeable. Subjective factors not measurable in dollars and cents are critical in staffing decisions. This is something that the Hersey orchestra students understand but the adults charged with educating them can't seem to grasp.

John Wysocki

Mount Prospect