Big Hollow school board floats plan to hire 31 more teachers

In order to shrink classroom sizes to acceptable numbers and reinstate programs cut earlier this year, Big Hollow School District 38 would have to hire 31 teachers at a cost of about $1.6 million next year.

If officials proceed with the plan, they would be making good on a promise to voters who approved a tax rate increase earlier this month so the school district could obtain $10 million in working cash bonds.

But it won't be until at least spring that Big Hollow School District residents will know for sure how their money is going to be spent.

"The plan going forward is to present, digest, and then, at the March 17 meeting, direct the administration how to proceed as far as hiring staff," said board President Vickie Gallichio.

The future of the district was discussed Monday night after residents pressured the school board to give them a timeline on how the $10 million will be spent.

While several residents expressed gratitude to the board after Monday's detailed presentation, others wanted more concrete answers.

"We have the largest class size in Lake County, the highest debt, no art, no music and no computers," said Jennifer Barrett-Zitkus. "I would expect more than scenarios at this meeting. If you lie to the community, you aren't going to get community support for very long."

Before the tax increase was passed, the school board pledged to use the $10 million to reduce class sizes and restore programs including art, music and computer classes.

Superintendent Ron Pazanin said while the $1.6 million needed for new teachers seems like a small slice of the $10 million, the approximately $6.15 million available for the next four years will have to pay for salary increases and standard operating costs.

The district has already issued $2.3 million in bonds.

In addition to smaller classes, members of the Citizens Referendum Committee have also asked the board to consider reversing cuts made to the student transportation program during the 2006-07 school year, purchase new textbooks, update the curriculum, and increase staffing on the playgrounds, in lunchrooms and in drop-off/pick-up zones.

Before any money is spent, however, the school district is going to ask parents, through an online survey, to prioritize their wish list of where the money should go.

In May, the school board will take action on the prioritized wish list.

"The fact is the operation of a school is the blending of factual numbers and human numbers," Pazanin said. "We won't know until the spring how much property tax money we will receive, and that makes up 80 percent of our revenue. Up until that time, we are only dealing with projections."