Sad is the only word to describe it,&uot; Todd Chessmore explained.

This was the Glenville-Emmons superintendent’s summary of Monday night’s school board meeting, during which a third of the district’s teachers were cut and the board learned that 106 students &045; almost a quarter of the district-wide enrollment &045; will attend other schools next year.

The $824,740 budget cut included 13 teachers, eight non-certified staff, five bus routes, the entire track program, and assistant coaches for all sports, among other things. The school was in budget trouble already, and the loss of more than 100 students meant even more problems, because the state funds districts on a per-pupil basis.

&uot;It was something that had to be done,&uot; Chessmore said. He’d made the recommendation for cuts to the board. &uot;It’s difficult for anyone to have to recommend letting employees go who have been in the district for a significant amount of time.&uot;

Chessmore, who turned in his resignation Monday to accept a job with another school district, said the changes were the culmination of two main issues &045; the failure of a referendum that would have approved extra taxes to fund the district, and the long debate in Glenville and Emmons that eventually led to a decision to close Emmons’s only school last week.

&uot;I think it’s an effect of the referendum and an effect of the inability for the communities to work together,&uot; he said. &uot;The referendum created the situation of having to close a building and the loss of students was created by not having community members work together for a workable solution.&uot;

The district decided it needed to close either the Emmons Middle School or Glenville Elementary to save money. The debate had many Glenville and Emmons residents at odds, and hundreds packed public meetings earlier this month to argue for one side or the other. The board eventually decided to close the Emmons school and move those grades over to a revamped Glenville Elementary. The high school is also in Glenville.

Most of the students who are leaving the district plan to attend schools in Lake Mills, Iowa or Northwood, Iowa next year. Lake Mills is around five miles from Emmons, while Glenville is around 12 miles.

Monday night, as this information was announced and the decisions made, the crowd of around 100 sat in a subdued, somber silence, Chessmore said.

Some who were present said it seemed that it was the unforeseen end to a conflict between two communities.

&uot;I think it was really an eye opener when people realized what kinds of devastating cuts took place,&uot; Dave Claussen, a G-E school board member, said. &uot;I feel terrible about what we had to do. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life.&uot;

Claussen said he has been calling the parents of the students who decided to move to another district, trying to convince them to come back to Glenville-Emmons.

The harshest reality of the whole ordeal is for teachers and staff who are loosing jobs. One-third of the district’s teachers and many non-certified staff are all going to be unemployed at the end of the school year. For many, the job security of experience wasn’t a factor.

Paul Moore has been the counselor for the district for ten years. His position was cut Monday.

&uot;It hit some people pretty hard,&uot; Moore said. &uot;Not only teachers, but students too.&uot;

Moore helps students select and apply to colleges, find students loans and scholarships, or make other plans for after high school, among other things. He said he isn’t sure who will help the students out when he is gone, but said if someone has to spend time doing other work on top of counseling, it will only hurt the students.

He said he has looked for jobs since the decision, but the market isn’t great.

&uot;I’ve been able to find just six job openings,&uot; he said. &uot;Only two of them are in Minnesota.&uot;

Moore said neither were in the area. His family is rooted in here, and children are going through school, so he said it might be hard to pick up and move.

Michael Kropp has taught social studies in the district for the past eight years. He, along with Moore, is a representative for the G-E district teacher’s union.

Kropp said that the majority of teachers cut were young, and didn’t have their roots in the community as deep as some other teachers. But the cuts did hit one teacher with 25 years experience, and others with more than a decade.

&uot;They were very deep cuts,&uot; he said. &uot;In general, the reaction was that it was devastating. We knew it was necessary but we didn’t expect it to go as deep as it did.&uot;

The teachers, board and administration are still holding out hope that some students will return to the district so that at least some jobs will be reinstated.

&uot;If enough students come back to the district (the board) can hire back some individual teachers,&uot; Kropp said. &uot;That’s always the hope.&uot;