Over the past few months, I have been monitoring the happenings of a particular school district, namely Waterloo Public Schools.

From 1990 through 1994, I was a student in this district and many of my compadres either have graduated or will graduate from one of the two (which was three until now) public high schools in Waterloo.

It appears the district’s $10 million deficit, which has been building over the past two decades, is budgeted to be erased over the next four years by laying off one-sixth of the faculty (101 teachers and nine nurses) and privatizing both drivers education and the bus system, as well as closing and relocating the year-old technical high school inside the remaining two high schools (East and West).

So what is my angle? I thought I would share with you some of the happenings that may remain unknown to the average Iowa State student concerning the district and its handling of various funds.

A little background about Waterloo is necessary to understand the current predicament. First of all, Waterloo is a blue-collar town of approximately 65,000 people, where the two largest employers are John Deere and a packing plant that recently opened in a surrounding town (Evansdale), Iowa Beef Packing (IBP).

Approximately 20 years ago, the city was a manufacturing mecca with John Deere having boom years in the seventies and a packing plant named Rath, which was also flourishing (or so we thought). These companies attracted a number of workers, with families, and the school district became so large that three high schools, along with a private high school, were necessary to handle the huge enrollment.

Along came the eighties. This meant downsizing for Deere and the closing of Rath. Much of the population was forced to relocate for new employment and the school district lost a large part of its students and tax base. Unfortunately, the school district began losing large amounts of money because of this drop in population.

While the district couldn’t foresee the sudden change in funding, it has not helped the situation by the implementation of a number of extremely questionable policies.

First off, I would like to know what the rush is to pay off the debt; after all, it seems the board members haven’t had any problem looking themselves in the mirror over the past 20 years.

I do admire their willingness to do something, but this major overhaul could have been avoided if they had only taken care of the situation when it began or slowly attempted to balance the budget over the past 20 years.

That would have been way too easy. It is better to permanently lay off 85 faculty (the superintendent “says” that 25 will be called back in the fall) — most of whom are energetic new teachers with young families — than to rationally think of a less explosive way to take care of the debt.

My second qualm involves the disbandment of a secondary education program called “open lunch.”

This system allows students to eat lunch outside of school due to the lack of cafeteria space, and many students’ need to eat at home because of lack of funds.

Due to the questionable actions of a few students, the board is continually pressured to remove open lunch and force all students to eat lunch at school. By performing such an action the district has two choices: expanding the school day to allow for the addition of a third lunch shift and finding a way to help pay more for subsidized school lunches, or spending thousands to expand the cafeteria in both high schools and finding funds for lunch subsidies.

It seems that both of these options would be costly, and correct me if I am wrong, but the district already has a burr up their ass when it comes to unnecessary funding. If the district wishes to save some cash, the “open lunch” policy should be left alone and the district should look to some other policy to slash.

My final gripe concerns the recently-established technical high school, which will be relocated after its first anniversary.

The idea is fantastic for the district as the current drop-out rate from the two high schools is about 25-45 percent, and many of those who either drop out or don’t go to a four-year college find jobs in technical and trade-related fields.

Thus, a school that specialized in technology and science would give kids motivation to stay in school because of the job opportunities that a traditional high school may not have given them.

The new school also offers English, history, foreign language and the arts, with a computer emphasis to give students a well-rounded education.

After visiting the school to see one of my previous history instructors, I was surprised to see that the students actually attended class, participated in discussions and showed a willingness to learn, which is absent in most schools.

The problem is that the district spent over a million dollars to equip the building with wiring, computers, televisions and staff to run the facility, and now it wants to split the program and move it to East and West High.

I am glad the district will keep this much needed program, yet why did it rearrange faculty and spend money on updating a building only to abandon it after only one year so it can spend more money to prepare the already overcrowded high schools?

The district seems a little hypocritical in its call for belt tightening when money seems to be available. All I ask is that the district think about those pink-slipped teachers the next time it tries to save five bucks by spending ten.

Ryan McCammon is a sophomore in Animal Science/ Veterinary Medicine from Mason City.