School district looks for help to meet budget demands

I'm impressed! It's a brave world you've stepped into and one that many are too chicken to try. What kind of snowblower costs $7,500? How did I survive recess without $5K of matting? How many parents that work in HVAC, plumbing, tiling, carpentry, metal fabrication etc could voluntee jto take care of some of these repairs? The charter school my grand daughter goes to requires 30 hours of volunteer work, yes requires it. The time has come for state employees to accept that those of us that work in non-taxpayer funded jobs lost our pensions and retirement packages years ago, my retirement is what I fund in my 401K and save myself. It hurt, we felt unappreciated, such is life. Get over it. My employer has to make a profit before I get a raise - why are there increases in salary when your source of funds has decreased? If my employer can say no raises this year, so can the schools. One final item - I've been in 5 schools over the past year and the amount of non-student art, just stuff decorating the walls of these classrooms in ridiculous. If the school is paying for all this, stop it; if the teachers are paying for it, stop it and use that money for things that count. It's proven that when a child walks into a room that their brains try to take everything in and process it. It's no wonder these kids are on drugs to calm them down when they try to process it all; how about they just process what the teacher is teaching. Let's do some house cleaning, set up a library where this stuff can be organized and stored and shared. It makes me edgey when I'm in those classrooms, less is more. Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without - at least until the states "income" is sufficent. The American Bankers Associates sends volunteers into the schools to Teach Kids to Save - the basis of the program is to weigh NEEDS vs WANTS. Try it.