Letter to County Commission

May 15, 2009



Ms. Ruth Ann Suttle
Chair, Burke County Commissioners
PO Box 219Morganton, NC 28680-0219

Via Facsimile to Ms. Vicki Craigo: 828-438-2782


RE: Burke County Board of Education Funding


Dear Madame Chair:

In this time of economic uncertainty and shortage of funds, I understand that sacrifices must be made by everyone. The company I work for, Environmental Inks and Coatings Corporation (“EIC”) has done its best to travel through these lean times by sharing sacrifice among all employees. Because it is important to the leadership of our company to preserve jobs here in Morganton, all of the employees at our local plant took a 5 to 10% pay cut for the second quarter – administration took 10% cuts, and some executives took pay cuts up to 50%. This way EIC was able to avoid extensive layoffs here in Morganton. Fortunately, our business is picking up and the need for continued sacrifice is lessening – we plan to restore everyone’s pay to prior levels on June 1.

I mention the above so as to contrast the efforts of the leadership at my company to the leadership of the Board of Education. Below is an email sent out to the schools in the Burke County System from the Central Office:

From: Thompson, JulieSent: Thu 5/14/2009 12:43 PMTo: All PrincipalsCc: Bagley, Winston B; Lawson, Keith; Burleson, DavidSubject: Substitute Teachers/Aesop
Good Afternoon … Mr. Lawson and Mr. Bagley have instructed me to remove all substitute teacher assignments from Aesop as absences are to be filled internally by the school effective 5/18/09. If your school does not use Aesop, it will be your responsibility to contact any subs you have scheduled for future absences and cancel with them. If you do not cancel with the sub and they show up, your school will be required to pay for the substitute. Substitutes for teachers on Leave of Absence will not be affected. If you have an emergency situation and cannot fill the absence internally, please contact Winston Bagley at 828-439-4301 or Julie Thompson at 828-439-4322 for approval to get a substitute. Teachers will still be required to enter their absences on Aesop; however Aesop will not post absences or call to find substitutes. This will allow us to continue to track absences through the end of the year. We apologize in advance for the inconvenience; however with the current budget issues we must do all that we can to reduce excess spending in any way possible.
Thank You ~
Julie Thompson
Burke County Public Schools
Pre-Employment Specialist
Substitute Administrator

After discussing the above with a teacher, it appears that in the inevitable circumstance that a substitute is needed, the class with the absent teacher will have to be “babysat” by another member of the school staff. Although that may not sound horrendous, depending on the situation that may mean that one teacher has to manage two classes together – thereby “killing two birds with one stone” as Aesop might say. (Except not in a good way – two classes will suffer instead of just one.)

So, given the fact that the Board leadership continues to spend funds on legal matters of their own creation, has refused to consider the reduction of their own monthly stipend and has flatly rejected the notion of dropping membership of the NCSBA, please know that those of us who understand “shared sacrifice” are relying on our County Commissioners to redirect the self-serving financial decisions of the Board if possible.

In this time when our school personnel must do “all that we can to reduce excess spending in any way possible,” it seems to me that the Board majority would be wise and considerate enough to do the same.

Sincerely,


Catherine Thomas
1660 Plantation Court
Morganton, NC 28655