School board member targets administration

As I participate in the budget process for the New London Board of Education and, after given the superintendent’s recommended budget, I find myself asking the same questions I have asked all year long. Why during all the current cuts over the past year have no cuts come from central office administration? Central office has 37plus employees. The only cuts central office has taken have been to secretaries and those who do the real work. Other cuts have been in software programs that were not being used and a few other miscellaneous reductions.

I ask myself why, in the current superintendent’s budget, he proposes eliminating 25-plus people who directly work with our students as paraprofessionals and student support services. Why again are we proposing cuts to staff that are the heartbeat of the district. The cuts, instead, must come from the central office administration.

I propose at least two central-office administration cuts, with the funds from these cuts directed to support services that directly assist our children. The New London Public Schools have so much potential. Schools are making progress on many levels. But there is work to do.

Cutting those who work directly with our children would be a major step backwards. Jason Catala New London Board of Education member New London