Oakview Middle School Reacts to Lake Orion Community Schools Funding Reduction

In preparation for what Lake Orion Community Schools Superintendent Marion Ginopolis referred to as the largest reduction in state funding in Lake Orion’s history, Lake Orion Community Schools building administrators have busily been preparing recommendations for budget cuts to the Board of Education.

“I can tell you right now, while it might not be 7.7 million or 6 million it is going to be in the millions, there is no questions,” Ginopolis said at the May 11 board meeting. “Legislatively, this is going to be the year that we really need to make reductions.”

Currently, administrators from Lake Orion Community Schools, including staff from in Oakland Township, have been advising the board on recommended reductions.

“Nothing is carved in stone," Ginopolis said. "These are recommendations."

Ginopolis said the specific recommendations were up for review, and that the Board of Education was still in the discussion phase.

“We have to listen to, at this point, what our administrators are bringing us, what our buildings are bring us, what our staff are bringing us, and make the best call from there,” said Board of Education member Bob Gritzinger at the meeting.

At Oakview Middle School, Principal Alice Seppanen said she expects their staff will be reduced by 1.5 staff members for the coming school year.

Staff members who will be impacted include the media specialist and one of the school’s counselors. The counselor position will be reduced to part time, and the media specialist role will still exist but will be handled by somebody else, Seppanen said.

“As a district, we’re all impacted in different ways,” she said. “It is significant to our building, but across the whole district there are a lot of changes coming as a result to this — we’re all jumping in and shouldering the burden.”

In addition to one staff member being laid off and another reduced to part time hours at Oakview, the school will also be reducing the size of its staff by 5.5 people.

Seppanen explained that there will be a shift in positions across the three middle schools within Lake Orion Community Schools, meaning that the other four staff members not laid off will take on similar roles at one of the other schools.

Aside from budget cuts, Seppanen pointed to a 40-student reduction in sixth-grade enrollment next year as a reason for cutting two sixth grade positions from the school, which will bring the number of teachers teaching sixth grade from eight to six.

Three elective teachers will be re-configured to other buildings, including those currently teaching technology, life management and theater.

“All three middle schools, as a result of the restructuring, have reduced some of our elective teachers but are preserving the classes by having other teachers pick up different portions those elective classes,” Seppanen explained.

For example, Oakview’s seventh grade science teachers will plan on combining some nutrition and wellness courses with some of the life management food classes. According to Seppanen, the parents she has been in contact with have been understanding about the situation.

At a school level, Seppanen noted that for years now they have been money conscious, trying to save wherever possible through grants and other money-saving outlets.

“I have great belief in the professionalism of our teachers and I know it’s a change that they’re adjusting to,” Seppanen said. “But I know when we get started in the fall, they’ll be ready to hit the ground running.”