Resignations impact more than bottom line

On the same day the Iowa Legislature began its budget shortened session, the Le Mars Community school board accepted the resignations of seven more teachers.

The district is seeking to trim one million dollars from its budget for next year. With a 10 percent cut in state funding for half of this fiscal year and uncertainty about the level of funding that the legislature will approve for next year, Le Mars and many of the school districts in the state are looking to save wherever they can.

With 14 teachers and one administrator resigning, the district is hoping to not fill some of the positions or replace the long time teachers with teachers that have less experience, and consequently will be paid less.

This practice is nothing new, it has been going on for years. From a financial standpoint, it makes sense. With eight out of 10 dollars spent on employee wages and benefits, payroll is the one area where substantial savings can be found.

But on the intangible side of the ledger, which comes into play quite often in education, the results can be dramatic. Supt. Wendt commented at Monday's board meeting "these resignations will have an impact on the culture of the school district."

Dr. Wendt is correct. Losing a combined 400 years of teaching experience will bring a change to the culture of LCS, as well as to the greater Le Mars community as well. Outside of school, teachers with this many years of experience have chosen to make Le Mars their home. In addition to purchasing homes, they have joined churches and civic organizations and have become valued members of the community.

So the question begs to be asked: will they remain here? Or will churches and civic groups, the greater community at large suffer as well?

We realize that we can't have it both ways, and that we are living in extraordinary times. Change is among the lone constants in life. These changes would have occurred in the coming years, but we wonder how so much change at once will impact our educational system -- and community.