[September 13, 2011] Morris school districts discussing ways to share Tweet Sep 13, 2011 (Morris Daily Herald - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The state of Illinois is continually cutting money in any area it can, including education. That, in turn, forces school districts to search for money-saving techniques. In order to cut overall spending, Morris' four school districts formed a committee to explore ways to save money as a whole, rather than individually. The Morris Community Shared Services Committee "will explore opportunities to share services to advance student learning and improve cost effectiveness," according to the summary sheet from its first meeting. To do this, the MCSSC decided it will need to establish priorities and goals, empower subcommittees, research deeper into benefits, possibilities and challenges, make recommendations, hold an annual joint board meeting to report findings and recommendations, monitor and review progress quarterly and formalize review process of current shared services efforts and jointly communicate outcomes. This collaboration will affect some districts more than others, however. "With the state cutting all of the money that they're cutting, this seems to be the push for school districts," Nettle Creek Board President Demetra Turman said. "I don't know that it would save us any money. It may save the other districts money." Because of the district's size, the board at Nettle Creek School District 24C is unsure that sharing services will benefit the district, but it will be looking into it with the other three districts. "If we decide to share, can we pick and choose?" asked board member John Skrapitz. Superintendent Pete Pasteris said he thinks picking and choosing is an available option because that has already happened in the past. At one point in time, some of the districts shared a curriculum coordinator. Pasteris said Nettle Creek would not have benefited from that because it already has a set curriculum. "It was very helpful (for the other districts) by having the person that they had. She did a wonderful job for them," Pasteris said. "It wouldn't have been cost-effective for us to do that." Other than the curriculum coordinator, some of the districts share transportation and food services already, as well as a technology committee, a building and grounds director and other services. In future discussions, the committee will talk about sharing a technology director, a public relations coordinator, a system for communicating open positions within each district and several other topics. Like any other new idea, there are bound to be pros and cons. The MCSSC discussed what those may be at its meeting. While sharing may prove to be cost effective and have a positive impact on student achievement, the committee worries about staff reductions, the possibility of negative morale, stability overall and the fact that change is difficult. Board members at Nettle Creek also discussed the possibility of consolidation. "I want to make something very clear," Pasteris said during a Nettle Creek board meeting. "This has nothing to do with and will not have anything to do with consolidation." Nettle Creek has expressed previously their opposition to consolidation and will stick with that decision in the future. "As long as the law stays as it is right now, our district population would have to vote in favor of consolidation and I don't think that's going to happen," Turman said. ___ (c)2011 the Morris Daily Herald (Morris, Ill.) Visit the Morris Daily Herald (Morris, Ill.) at www.morrisdailyherald.com Distributed by MCT Information Services [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]