The budgetary concerns at Taft High have been affecting a variety of staff in various ways. All teachers received a letter was that was dated December 22, 2017. The letter read, “The district is compiling an updated employment list, also known as the seniority list.” This shows that Taft High could be looking to lay off employees in the future.

When Mrs. Finn was asked about the budget affecting summer school, she responded, “Will there be an impact to the summer programs, yes. However, the exact impact has not yet been determined and is closely related to our preferencing and the needs of students. So, unfortunately, details will have to come later.” One could conclude from this that some previously offered summer school classes may not be offered this year.

According to Mrs. Schoneweis, English/Language Arts Department Chair, “We have been affected. Last year, knowing about the budget issues, we forewent replenishing our class libraries, which for many years was a practice, where English teachers were allotted $300 each to go to Barnes and Noble and would buy popular books for students to encourage them to enjoy reading…and also to meet their A.R. goals. We also no longer have norming/grading sessions each quarter for [the] milestone essay. Instead, we now only norm the milestones for two quarters, trying to focus on the essay prompts that need the most attention and discussion. We are also trying to use less paper, assigning the bulk of our students’ work in Google classroom, which seems like a small thing, but adds up over time.” The Language Arts department has been altered to be more cost efficient. These changes make it harder for Language Arts teachers to grade Milestones. We are yet to get a response from other department chairs, but hope to bring more information soon.

Joe Pittman from the I.T. department allowed me to ask about his concerns and effects on the department. Due to the department being busy, all he could give was, “We lost someone and did not fill the position.” This raises the probability of I.T. being short handed.

The future of Taft High seems to be uncertain at this moment. Some staff members don’t want to share information due to a fear of possible repercussions. Many staff members seem to be concerned about what’s to come with the current financial issues and are hoping the issue is contained and resolved over time. There will be more to come on the budget situation at Taft High in future articles. If you have been affected by the budget concerns and would like to provide information to The Gusher, send an email with the subject “budget information” to [email protected].