Nella Silver Creek
Middle-Senior High School, alcuni studenti hanno dato
vita al sito Web:
http://www.poorschool.com (letteralmente scuola povera) che raccoglie
testimonianze, articoli, iniziative, forum ecc.
Il 19 dicembre, il sito è stato attaccato dagli hackers e tutte le testimonianze e i documenti raccolti
sono stati distrutti.
Ma gli studenti non si sono arresi e, dopo giorni di
lavoro intenso, hanno ripristinato le informazioni on line.
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
December 24, 2002
Filed at 2:54 a.m. ET
LONGMONT, Colo. (AP) -- Parents are offering to help pay grocery and
utility bills. Businesses are donating cash and a group of students run an
informational Web site.
In communities just north
of Denver, residents are pitching in to help teachers and administrators as the
St. Vrain Valley School District grapples with a
$13.8 million budget shortfall blamed on mismanagement.
``We're worried about our
teachers and our principals, and we really don't want to lose them because of
this,'' parent Merrill Bohanning, 44, said. ``If we
can help ease their financial burden, we will.''
Teachers are grateful, but
know it may be years before the district is solvent.
``Teachers feel really good
about the parent support,'' said Jeannie Beyer,
spokeswoman for the St. Vrain Valley Education
Association. ``But they realize it's not going to be possible
for them to solve this problem.''
The 22,000-student district
in parts of Weld, Boulder and Larimer counties
discovered the shortfall last month. The finance director resigned and an
assistant superintendent has been suspended. District officials said an
independent audit showed the two mismanaged the budget but did not commit
fraud.
``It's extraordinary.
Nobody would have ever imagined something happening like this at this level,''
said State Treasurer Mike Coffman. ``I think the
state needs to learn from this.''
Coffman and district officials last week
agreed on a state bailout plan freeing up a $9.8 million loan that enabled the
payroll to be met for 2,700 teachers and staff in time for the holidays.
The plan calls for all
district employees to take a 7.1 percent pay cut beginning Jan. 1 and a hiring
freeze through June 2004. Administrators who used to pay $1 a month for family
health insurance now will pay $1 for themselves and the regular premium for the
rest of their families.
District officials also
took $1.7 million from student-activity accounts in its 38 schools.
At Coffman's
request, the Boulder District Attorney has begun investigating the district's
finances. Coffman has said he wants to know whether
district officials hid the budget shortfall until after the November election,
when voters approved a $212 million bond issue for schools.
In Frederick about 30 miles
northeast of Denver, Bohanning
and other parents of students at Prairie Ridge Elementary School are buying
classroom supplies and offering to pay for groceries and utility bills to keep
first-year teachers and principals in their jobs.
Some $36,000 have been
raised in donations from Safeway. A Chevrolet dealership chipped in $10,000 and
forgave the district's $10,750 bill for renting the driver education cars. IBM
chipped in 4,500 reams of paper.
``We employ thousands of
people in this community,'' said Mitch Carson, a hospital chief executive
officer, who helped raise funds. ``We have children in the schools, and we see
how they could be affected.''
At Silver Creek
Middle-Senior High School, three juniors started a Web site called
http://www.poorschool.com that displays newspaper articles, district
information and an e-mail forum.
``Rumors
about what is happening to the district are moving at lightning speed,'' site
co-creator Mitch Lubbers, 17, said. ``We wanted to
know the truth, and spread that around instead.''
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