Dayton Public Schools needs to walk the talk

I almost laughed when I saw that DPS was cutting the school day to cut utility costs. I mentioned that the lights were on at Stivers at night (a school under construction) several weeks ago.

^[1]Just to prove a point- I’ve included a picture I took from Dutoit Street, at 11 pm- on Sunday, May 27- Memorial Day weekend. I can guarantee that there was no work going on at this time to warrant the lights to be on.

Schools to cut hours in order to cut costs ^[2]
DAYTON — Students will spend up to 45 minutes less per day in school next year under the city school district’s $30 million cost reduction plan.

Dayton will drop to the state minimum of 51/2 hours of instruction for all grades, Superintendent Percy Mack said Wednesday. That means 45 minutes less of class time for high school, 30 minutes less for middle school and 15 minutes less for elementary school.

The work day for teachers will not change, but the district expects to save money by reducing the hours that schools are in operation, saving on utilities and upkeep.

The cuts include 499 jobs that will be eliminated. School officials notified 207 instructional staff that will be laid off Tuesday, including classroom teachers, counselor and nurses. About another 100 instructional jobs were cut through attrition. The total instructional staff cuts equal about 23 percent of the teaching force.

Central office administration will see 17 of 69 central office administrative jobs cut, or a 25 percent reduction in central office administrators who are paid out of the general fund. Other job cuts in operations, such as busing, maintenance and food service, were not specified.

The reduction plan follows the May 8 defeat of a 15.17 mill operating levy school officials said was needed to avoid a deficit in the upcoming school year.

Again- you have a better chance of passing a levy when your actions match your words.