“The Affton School District – like most public school systems hamstrung by a state budget pinch and burdened by unfunded federal mandates – is facing a future checkered with challenges.

One of them, however, apparently predates the current fiscal situation. A resolution could emerge from an informal meeting at Rogers Middle School on Saturday, May 1 at 1 p.m.

At the end of the Affton School Board’s April 20 regular meeting – attended by a number of teachers and parents – Board President Ron Becher alluded to May 1 as a date circled on his and many other district officials’ and employees’ calendars.

Becher and other board members spoke in guarded terms about the content of the May 1 meeting between the board, administrators and teachers.

Becher said the meeting was “long in coming” and “important,” and his board colleagues each said they were looking forward to the discussion.

District Superintendent Don Francis said, “The teachers had been requesting a meeting to discuss their workday, and the board agreed to set one up. It will be an open meeting, the public can attend.”

Becher said the issue is the degree to which the elected board should involve itself in decisions made by the administration. The board is standing behind the administrators’ scheduling decisions.

“I think Ron has given us a reminder of where the board’s boundaries really should stay as far as staying out of the day-to-day operations of the schools,” said Board Member Michael McNeil. “We’ve had a lot of division over this issue the last few years, and this is an opportunity to lay it all down, then move forward in a positive, productive manner.””

Read more: http://www.southcountytimes.com/Articles-i-2010-04-30-169506.113118-Affton-School-District.html#ixzz1ZkPOR7js

Printed in the South County Times on April 30, 2010

Article by Joe Leicht