Storey County cuts programs

VIRGINIA CITY - Storey County students will have no lunches, no music and no high-school principal, board members decided Monday.

Four to six of the district's 40 teachers will also be eliminated under a new budget.

"It wasn't popular and it wasn't pleasant, but it had to be done," said School Board President Carol McCracken.

McCracken said the board faced more than a $400,000 deficit after the Pinon Pines Power Plant finished two years ahead of schedule.

"We lost two years of revenue," she said. "The assessed valuation of the county dropped by $54 million."

On top of that, the district's insurance company raised its rates by 38 percent, costing the district around $89,000.

McCracken said the board had no choice but to make the drastic cuts.

"These are people's livelihoods and these are programs for children, and we don't like interfering with either one," she said. "Our primary concern right now has to be keeping core academics."

However, High School Principal Pam Calhoun said the principal's position should not have been included in the cuts.

"My personal concern is not for myself but for the high school," Calhoun said. "I don't think you should put your high school, your flagship, at risk."

McCracken said the board plans to appoint a lead teacher who would teach part-time and work part-time as an administrator. The new superintendent, Henry Kilmer, will pick up the remainder of the responsibilities.

"We could not afford to keep a principal down there," McCracken said.

Calhoun said it is common in some of the smaller school districts to share administrators between schools, but the high school always had a permanent principal.

"Combining administrators is not a bad idea but leaving the high school out on a limb is," she said. "The kids and the teachers need leadership."

Calhoun said this year's seniors have had six different administrators in the last six years.

"It's real hard for them," she said. "It's a real unstable world for them. They can cut me, but they need to take care of this high school."

With a staff of 14 teachers and 142 students, the school needs an administrator on site, Calhoun said.

McCracken said the tight budget is only temporary. She said the county should see revenues from the Tahoe Reno Industrial Park within the next two years.

"This is just a temporary problem," McCracken said. "For the next two years, we will have to tighten our belts but revenues will be coming back."

She said once the money comes back, the programs will come back.

"We hope to bring all these programs back in two to three years when we're financially back on our feet," McCracken said.

McCracken said the board will save $85,000 by cutting the lunch program and $79,000 by cutting the high school principal position.

Cutting the music program will save $39,000 and cutting the bus route will save $24,000.

An elementary school janitor and a teacher retired this year and will not be replaced, saving the district $64,000.

The budget cuts will be discussed tonight in the school board meeting at 7 p.m. in the library of Hugh Gallagher Elementary School.