Westlake Board of Education and Administration PUNISHES parents and students for levy failure.

On December 9th the Westlake Board of Education voted 4-1 to cut busing to state minimums.  This reckless cut jeopardizes our children’s safety, places undue stress on parents, and does very little to impact the out-of-control spending of the district.

The cut will eliminate busing for elementary and middle school students that live within 2 miles of their school.  The board of education and administration agreed with children as young as kindergarten age walking up to 2 miles to school in the middle of winter. 

Most parents will attempt to carpool or drop their children off at their respective schools.  This is a huge inconvenience for parents and many will be forced to have uncomfortable conversations with their employers so that this cut can be accommodated.  Also, the additional traffic increases the safety risk for children walking to school and is terrible for our environment.

The administration claims, this heartless cut will reduce expenses by approximately $280,000 annually.  That is a reduction of ~$125,000 for this school year.  That amounts to 0.25% of the $50,000,000 annual budget.  The board wants parents to believe that this cut is not punitive.  However, the savings (0.25%) amounts to a rounding error of the $50,000,000 budget.  Even Ms. Winter (who voted yes to the cut) compared the bus elimination to the punishment that she would impose on her daughter if she didn’t clean the cat’s litter box.

This board and administration has failed the community of Westlake and is now directly punishing our students and parents.  This board could focus on the upcoming teacher’s contract which represents 86% of the $50,000,000 budget (contract expires in June 2014).  This board was sitting on over $15,000,000 at the start of this school year and is now hurting our kids to make a political point. 

Shame on the four board members who voted yes (Mays, Winter, Falcone, and Leszynski) and Superintendent Keenan who proposed these self-serving cuts.