&uot;Hawthorne Kids are #1.

Monday, December 17, 2001

&uot;Hawthorne Kids are #1.&uot;

The message is spelled out in large, flourescent green letters along the top of the wall in principal John Piotraschke’s office. It’s also the message that appears on his computer screen saver.

Over the last five years, however, his time spent interacting with kids has been pared down. He has taken on the duty of the district’s curriculum leader for mathematics; he has had to spend more time dealing with disciplinary issues; he has had to serve on new committees and attend new meetings.

As Albert Lea Area Schools has trimmed its budget over the last decade, more duties have been placed on a shrinking administration, said superintendent David Prescott. As positions like curriculum leader, staff development coordinator and compliance officer have been eliminated, the district has spread the duties to other administrators.

Yet, when it’s time to make cuts, the school – and the public – often thinks about administration first. But this year, the district says there is not much administration left to cut.

&uot;We’ve already cut so many of those positions,&uot; Prescott said. &uot;It’s hard to imagine us being any lower than we are.&uot;

The school district needs to cut $1.1 million from its budget and will probably suggest those cuts at the school board meeting Monday night.

The district has 10 full-time employees whom Prescott considers administrators: himself, four elementary principals, a middle-school principal, a high school principal, an assistant high school principal, a half-time assistant principal/half-time athletic director and a curriculum director who is also the Area Learning Center principal.

It depends on how you define administration, however. &uot;An administrator is someone who has as a primary function, supervising other people,&uot; Prescott said. That includes principals, assistants and the like.

Since 1998, Prescott said the district has saved around $119,000 by cutting or reducing positions and spreading the work to administrators without paying them extra. Another $60,000 may be proposed for 2002.