Dryden schools have had difficult budget conversations before, but this year's conversation looks, well, extremely dark. Even if it gets better than "could lay off as many as 17 employees, including 10 teachers, to stay solvent," I don't think it going to get better enough to be cheerful. Elsewhere, Kathy Zahler reports a lot of silence at the meeting, another difficult sign. This question is especially hard to answer:
Given the "last hired, first fired" policy of most school contracts, it's hard to imagine why Cortland State still has any students in its teaching degree programs. What hope do those young people have of getting--and retaining--a job?
In more cheerful news, Cathy Wakeman reports on the Dryden Music Boosters' upcoming jazz and dessert night, a parenting skills class, a report back from Haiti and a concert that raised $700 of relief aid, plus a women's retreat by the Dryden Presbyterian Church.
And I think I'm going to try to go out as little as possible for the next few days - wind and snow are on their way. Sounds like it might even happen!
Posted by simon at February 24, 2010 9:59 AM in Ithaca Journal , schools (Dryden) , weather