Rock Hill School Board Hears Bad News at Monday's April Business Meeting

The Rock Hill School Board heard Monday night that current revenue projections for the 2010-11 school year, best case, will be around $1.5 million dollars short of the cuts already approved by the board. This could mean an additional reduction of 16 positions. Final numbers will not be known until the legislature finishes up - probably in June.

Dr. Linda Recio representing Evergreen Solutions made a report on their findings of the school district's Operations Department. She presented a number of recommendations which the administration will review and report back to the board in a couple of months. Some significant findings were:

• District owns unnecessary equipment (should be rented instead)
• District has too many custodians and not enough employees for grounds maintenance (both should be outsourced)
• Energy costs are excessive (compared to other districts)
• External communications need to be improved
• Cleanliness of the schools and facilities management were some of the best seen

After an executive session for personnel discussions, the board voted 5-0-1 (Douglas abstaining and Silverman absent) to approve the administrations recommendations for Reduction in Force (RIF). The administration will now begin notifying employees who will not be returning next year because of revenue reductions. The district will be guided by policy GCQA/GCQB in making the reductions.

The Board voted 7-0 to approve final reading for policy changes to IJOA (Field Study) and for the consent agenda (minutes and 2 overnight field trips).