Carmen McCollum, Times of Northwest Indiana
SCHERERVILLE | In the face of rising budget cuts at districts across the state, one school organization has found a novel way to keep an employee in the classroom.
Its members are finding the money themselves, starting a practice that may be mirrored as public school funding continues to decrease.
The Grimmer Middle School band boosters approved a plan to raise money to pay the salary of Chad Miller, a classroom aide, through upcoming concerts and other activities. All money raised will be donated to the school district to pay his $10,800 part-time salary.
Miller is one of seven aides who will lose their jobs at the end of the school year as part of $2.5 million in budget cuts approved by the Lake Central School Corp. board.
Tom Dykiel, the district's finance director, said the band boosters will have to ask the School Board to rehire the individual with that donation.
"It will have to be based on a year-by-year basis," Dykiel said. "If the funding fails, his job will be RIF'ed. They also will have to cover the total cost," including Social Security.
Al Gandolfi, Lake Central assistant superintendent for secondary education, said band boosters have paid for other expenses in the past, such as secretarial support for the summer program. Dance teams often work this way to hire their own choreographers, he said.
Late Friday, Superintendent Gerald Chabot said he hasn't seen the proposal but will discuss it with administrators next week.
Meanwhile, Grimmer band booster president Sandy Giazzon said the boosters intend to do this for as long as necessary or until the economy improves and the district is able to pick up the expense again.
Last week, School Town of Munster teachers voted in favor of concessions, giving back their 3 percent raise from August, and they agreed to pay more on insurance premiums.
At Grimmer, there are approximately 75 students in each band class, and about 60 percent of all middle school students take band. A loss for Grimmer will mean a loss for the entire community, Giazzon said.
Miller is an asset to the band program, she said, in that he helps students individually, giving playing tests, making minor repairs to equipment and maintaining order, thus leaving the director free to continue working with the band.
Band teacher David Gore said he sat down with the band boosters early on and enlisted their support.
"I am able to do much more with Chad," Gore said. "If I had to do the individual tests on my own, that takes about three days and there is no teaching going on then. I can send kids to Chad for individual instruction and continue with the band rather than stopping everything. The quality of instruction is affected when we don't have a classroom aide."
While all three middle schools in Lake Central are losing their classroom assistants, the fundraising effort is under way only at Grimmer. Gore said he has been in conversation with the band director at Kahler Middle School, who may be interested in sharing Miller's time, but nothing definite has been set up.
This is Miller's third year as a classroom aide. In addition to working at Grimmer, he also gives music lessons and plays professionally with a band called Busted Creek.
Grimmer eighth-grader Tyler Payne, who plays percussion, said he has benefited from working individually with Miller. He said Miller has helped him with his rhythm, and the band wouldn't get as much done without Miller in the classroom.
This isn't the first time the Grimmer band boosters have helped financially. Grimmer Principal Janet Zeck said when she became principal a few years ago -- before the district hired classroom aides for band -- an agreement existed allowing the boosters to donate money for a classroom aide in the band room.
"They donated the money to the central office, and it was earmarked for the salary of the classroom aide," she said.
It is not unusual for parent organizations or school groups to donate money, equipment or other items. Schools get private donations and grants that add to the resources. Teachers also use their own money to buy extra items they want for students.
Dykiel said Lake Central School Corp. generally receives between $8,000 and $10,000 per year in donations.
But Patrick O'Rourke, Hammond Federation of Teachers president, said this is the first he's heard of an organization donating money to pay an instructor's salary.
"I think it's marvelous," he said. "Parents donate many things to schools, such as for athletics, and they help to purchase items for classrooms, but I have never heard of them paying a salary. That's pretty amazing."
Sharon Qualkenbush, finance director for Portage Township Schools, said she worries about the long-term implications.
"I understand the logic, but I would be concerned because it's not a stable source of funding," she said. "It's not something you can depend on."
Marc Ryser, co-president of the Highland Classroom Teachers Association, said he thought the Grimmer boosters' effort was a novel idea.
With budget cuts across the state that could put as many as 5,000 teachers out of a job by next fall, Ryser said School Town of Highland educators are looking at encouraging volunteerism at all of the district's schools.