Schools forced to do more, with less

By: Sarah Newell williamson | Hickory Daily Record
Published: June 21, 2009

NEWTON --

Teachers in Catawba County will have a challenging year ahead of them, with fewer of them in the schools and just as many students.

"It will be very, very difficult," said Ric Vandett, superintendent of Hickory Public Schools. "We keep getting asked to do more with less. To the credit of our teachers, our students keep achieving. That may not be the case this year."

North Carolina is facing a $4 billion shortfall. The General Assembly's budget will likely include increasing class sizes by two students per grade and eliminating teacher assistants in the third grade to save money. Newton-Conover City, Hickory Public and Catawba County Schools have eliminated hundreds of teacher and teachers' assistant positions, as well as other staff positions, either through cutting jobs or not filling the positions through attrition, because of the budget gap.

Newton-Conover City Schools Superintendent Barry Redmond said school staff will have to be efficient in how they work.

"I expect everyone will work harder and smarter," he said. "We'll need to utilize everything to the best of our ability."

All three school systems have said they will likely need to shift a few teachers and teachers' assistants from a few schools to other schools to balance the positions that have been eliminated.

Redmond said he's hopeful the state will allow more flexibility with moving money from different categories of line items, since the funding is less this year.

With a few more students in each grade than last year, there's something parents can do to ensure their students are staying on-track in the classroom, Vandett said.

"Parents can ask 'What do you have for homework,' and 'Let me see it,'" he said. "It shows that you're interested and you'll check on it."