Questions Posed to Me

I was posed 2 questions last night and I don't have an answer to either.

How can we ask the teachers, administrators or any other district employee to take a pay freeze or furlough days when we have decided we have the funds to operate a school at 30% of capacity? (asked by a CG resident)

How can we ask Cottage Grove to justify a refendum to keep 2 elementary schools with enrollments under 200 open and yet have 2 elementary schools with enrollments around 400? (asked by a Monona resident)

My response was that I don't know how we work thru these issues, but that we will work thru them.

Thank You All for the Public Input

I know that Peter's blog has a list of the budget cuts and that Jessica's blog has a couple of discussions on the upcoming vote, so I won't post about those. Instead as I sit here tonight thinking about all the information and the various conversations that I have had over the last few months I keep thinking about how our decisions tomorrow will impact the kids. How do I as a non-educational based professional determine the impact my votes will have on the kids?

Lastly, I want to thank everyone that has written e-mails, spoken at the listening sessions or spoken with me via phone or face to face regarding our budget decisions that we face tomorrow. It has been invaluable getting this feedback. As I sit here tonight re-reading many of the e-mails and recalling those conversations and listening sessions it sure helps give me perspective on what people are thinking.

Again, thank you all for your input on these difficult decisions.