Support staff members at district also lose their jobs.

Official action to lay off or reduce the hours of 28 teachers and support staff members was taken this week by the Suttons Bay Board of Education.

In two separate resolutions, board members listed employees whose services won't be needed for the 2008-09 school year. Layoff notices are being sent to teachers Lisa Murphy, Marnie LaPaugh, Deb Shutt, Kim Morrison, Scott Munn, Beth Stowe, Lita Ferdinand, Kyra Woodwood, Kathleen Hoagg, Sarah Christiansen, Bonnie Modroo and Judy Lehman. Support staff members identified for layoff include Brenda Harrelson, Deb Kratochvil, Leanna Smith, Mary Dingrando, Rosali Collier, Jody Francis, Berkeley Gossett, Terri Orban, Catherine Wurm, Melinna Pavelek, Jenica Greer and Emmy Nelson.

A separate resolution identified four teachers who will have their hours reduced. They are Katie Belanger, Cheryl Smith, Barbara Attwood and Annie Morey.

Morey, the instrumental music teacher, may get new work to replace lost hours resulting from the elimination of fifth grade music from the 2008-09 budget. A cooperative agreement is being discussed with the Leland school district for the shared use of Morey. Leland denied tenure to teacher Jennifer Fenton this spring and has yet to hire a replacement.

The layoffs come two weeks after board members cut nearly $1 million in expenses from the proposed 2008-09 budget. The remaining $200,000-plus shortfall will be made up from the district’s already dwindling fund balance.

Board members, who approved the layoffs with regrets, were heartened to learn that four of the affected teachers had secured positions with other area schools.

“Two found positions with TCAPS (Traverse City Area Public Schools), one with Leland and another with Mancelona,” Superintendent Mike Murray reported at Monday’s monthly meeting.

Michigan Works! representatives have been in contact with the district and an informational letter for all those impacted by the layoffs was scheduled to be sent Tuesday. Available information explains how to receive unemployment benefits and update a resume’.

Murray said every day he receives another call from retired teachers, or those who have been laid off, offering assistance.

“Fred Elmore (retired guidance counselor) has offered to come in the last weeks of August and the beginning of September to ensure all students are getting the classes they need,” Murray said.

“We’re not down and out … This is just a bump in the road.”

Some of the budget shortfall, particularly a drop in federal impact aid, can be attributed in part to bookkeeping errors dating back three years, prior to the hiring of both Murray and business manager LeAnn Eustice. According to Murray, federal impact aid is based on the number of Native American students living on the Peshawbestown reservation. The Native student count fell by more than half, from 110 one year to 42 the next. In 2005-06, Suttons Bay received $460,000 in federal impact aid, reflecting the higher number of Native students. The following year, federal impact aid dropped to $260,000. Although the numbers were audited and the mistake found and corrected, impact aid will not be adjusted to previous levels.

“I guess what brought it home was our second impact aid payment (received near mid-June),” Murray explained. “I realized that not only are they not going to pay us back for what was lost (by the error), it looks like we are being cut.”

Moreover, the complicated formula used to determine federal impact aid incorrectly indicated that the district’s total enrollment dropped from 940 one year to 94.8 the next.

“When they divided the impact aid by the (94.8 student) enrollment, it indicated we were a very ‘rich’ district,” Murray said. “We had 10 times that number of students.”

Staffers have resubmitted corrected enrollment numbers from the 2004-05 school year to the U.S. Department of Education. However, any update on the status of the resubmission will have to wait until the return of government employees in Washington D.C.

“We’re continuing to put the pressure on Washington, but it’s mid-summer and the place is empty,” Murray said. “It’s not likely our information will shift over to the desk of someone who isn’t on vacation.”

In other cost-cutting measures, the board learned that Murray and bus mechanic Tom Bumgardner are looking for a used 9-passenger van to replace the full-size diesel bus which makes several trips daily to Traverse City. The bus transports special education students from Suttons Bay, Leland and Northport to sites in Traverse City operated by the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District.

A used vehicle with between 60,000 and 70,000 miles would replace the full-size bus, which operates on diesel fuel. Improved gas mileage and a switch from diesel to unleaded fuel is expected to save the district money in 2008-09.