I think this is the week that the work becomes a bit more normal for many of us. The Celerion building is feeling like home and we have developed our traffic strategies to get from our office – to all the places where we need to be. For me, the biggest traffic challenge has been Highway 2 (especially near 27th street) around 7:30AM. Ugh…I hate having to wait through multiple light changes.
This week we will be working on the 2011-12 budget, which will be challenging in lieu of our state aid reduction. While we are still optimistic going into next year, we are very uncertain about the following year. I have asked all school district leaders to seek ways to trim our personnel costs when vacancies occur (approximately 86% of the general fund budget goes to personnel). Our ability to manage some of this now will lessen the need later. Our first opportunity to publicly discuss the budget is tonight at a special school board work session (5 p.m. at the headquarters for the Nebraska Association of School Boards, 1311 Stockwell St.at 5 p.m.).
Tomorrow night, the board of education will discuss the strategic planning report and begin the process of seeking ways to create priorities for us going forward. I anticipate the formation of action-writing teams once those priorities have been established. We need this to come together fairly quickly, however, we have been dealing with a few distractions.
June is almost a distant memory and July will be a time for vacations. I certainly hope that the LPSDO folks who put their lives on hold this month can find time to get away for some relaxation.
Steve
