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May 5, 2009 in City
District discusses layoffs with teachers
Spokane Public Schools invited 193 of its least senior teachers to a meeting Monday to talk about layoff notices they could be receiving next Tuesday.
As many as 150 notifications could be handed out, but most, if not all, will be recalled, said Staci Vesneske, assistant superintendent for human resources. The district anticipates laying off fewer than 40 teachers. It’s possible no one will be laid off, Vesneske said.
Basically, the district wanted to tell the teachers not to panic, Vesneske said.
A May 15 union contract deadline regarding layoffs and budget uncertainties led the district to send out the pink slips before knowing the bottom line.
School officials still don’t know how they will be able to use federal stimulus money and are waiting to find out whether the Legislature will lift the levy lid by 4 percentage points, allowing the district to collect more tax money from homeowners.
Raising the levy lid would fill about $6 million of an $8.8 million gap in the Spokane district’s $308.2 million budget, officials said.
Jody Lawrence Turner
Businesses help fund police bike patrols
Police bike patrols will continue downtown through the summer thanks to funding from downtown businesses. Spokane police officers will patrol from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Thursday and Friday nights.
The patrols started Friday and will end Sept. 5.
The Downtown Spokane Partnership and Business Improvement District is chipping in about $50,000 to help pay for the patrols, which cost the Spokane Police Department about $120,000 in overtime pay last summer, police said recently.
Traffic patrols will reduce slightly to cover the bike patrols, police said at last month’s public safety meeting.
Meghann M. Cuniff
Park board weighing public pool fees
After a two-month break, the Spokane Park Board tonight will resume consideration of a proposal to charge children to swim in public pools.
The issue has caused controversy on and off for the past few decades. The city has only charged youths to swim one summer out of the nearly 100 years it’s had pools.
Park leaders have crafted a proposal that they say strikes a balance between keeping parks accessible to low-income residents and balancing the budget. Their plan would keep pools open 44 hours a week and charge kids a $2.50 entry fee during 24 of those hours.
Last year, pools were open 31 hours a week with no fees on kids.
Some neighborhood leaders say that the pools are essential to giving kids a positive activity in the summer and that many families can’t afford a fee.
The plan, they say, significantly cuts the number of hours of free swimming, making it more likely they’ll risk swimming in the Spokane River.
The board will accept testimony on the proposed fees at 6:30 tonight at City Hall, 808 W. Spokane Falls Blvd.
Jonathan Brunt
Sex trafficking suspects released as probe continues 
a_different_Pete on May 05 at 7:32 a.m.
I can accept pool fees to enable the pools to be opened for more hours each week, but please keep the fees low – no more than $1 for kids and $3 for adults, with small children included in the parent’s fee. Also important, please keep fees uniform throughout the week. Different times for free-swimming and paid-swimming segregates patrons by their economic standing. (Can you imagine the public schools setting a separate lunch time for students who qualify for reduced fees?) Certainly there should be a season pass at a reasonable fee. That same pass should be sold at a reduced rate to low income families. Our pools must not segregate the poor.
lewis8457 on May 05 at 8:35 a.m.
The pools are becoming like the libraries, when the city wants more money they just raise the fees, making them a luxury instead of a right, basically cutting the low income out of the mix.
liarsinnews on May 05 at 9:28 a.m.
Isn`t it time to look at some of the dead wood working in the Board of Education building downtown. IMHO, their seems to be more administrators than teachers. Why not throw out the dead wood, instead of teachers?