[August 12, 2011] 90-16 campaign saves a second teacher Tweet Aug 10, 2011 (Zionsville Times Sentinel - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The 90-16 campaign is at it again. Autumn Webster was notified last week that she will be teaching for another year and the thanks goes to the 90-16 campaign -- a program that was designed to raise enough money in 90 days to restore the 16 teachers reduced-in-force, or RIF'd, for the 2011-12 school year. She was the second teacher to be recalled. Maxim Zheleznyak, Zionsville Community High School orchestra director, was the first teacher recalled in June by the 90-16 campaign's contribution. Zionsville Community Schools Superintendent Scott Robison said Webster, a three-year ZCS veteran, was the next person on the recall list. "It's great that the campaign has assisted now, with two full-time teachers without additional cost to the general fund for the coming year," he said. Webster, who was a first grade teacher at Stonegate, will now teach third grade. Matt Doublestein, interim principal at Stonegate Elementary, said he is "extraordinarily grateful" to have her back. "We are so grateful to the 90-16 campaign," he said. "Autumn was a great teacher and we were really sad to lose her, but it is great to have her back in the Stonegate family." He added, "We have many needs at Stonegate but this one was really big." Webster will now teach third grade to reduce class sizes. Before she was hired back, Doublestein said there were more than 30 students in each third grade class. Steve Freeland, founder of the 90-16 campaign, dropped a check off to the school on Friday, Aug. 5. The final day of the campaign was July 31. "We have raised somewhere between $120,000 to $130,000 and the majority was raised within the 75 days of the 90-day campaign," Freeland said. Freeland is thankful for the community support but regretful that the campaign wasn't able to save all 16 teachers. "It's a big number but I am disappointed," he said. "I thought saving all 16 teachers was doable. If I had done nothing, then the results would have been zero. We saved two teachers and the school and community will be impacted by this." Despite the outcome, Freeland said the effort was still rewarding "because the community cared." Freeland said the most gratifying part of the campaign experience for him was the input from many companies and small businesses, including Boonedogglers, Hunter Smith Band, Cobblestone Grill, Body Outiftters "Sweating for Salaries," portion of local realtors commission, The Anson Group, Bluefish Wireless, and St. Vincent Hospital. Freeland said he is looking forward to seeing teachers in their element. "I truly believe our school needs the community behind it, and we need to support our teachers," he said. Webster was unavailable for comment as of press time. To see more of the Zionsville Times Sentinel or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://timessentinel.com/. Copyright (c) 2011, Zionsville Times Sentinel, Ind. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]