Gas Shortage Has Non-30030 CSD Staff Concerned
Decatur Metro | October 3, 2008In a note to people other than myself, Superintendent of Schools Phyllis Edwards expresses her concern about the gas shortage’s impact on schools. But this has nothing to do with getting students to school on buses, which according to her note still have the needed fuel to get around our 5-square mile city, but teachers and staff.
Apparently over half of Decatur’s school staff live outside the zip, and are concerned about getting to work if gas doesn’t become more freely available soon. Now this point might now be moot (since gas lines are getting shorter) but the crisis has got CSD thinking more about conservation and Edwards announces the following…
- a car-pooling list for staff
- completely shutting all schools down during the 4 day Columbus Day holiday weekend
- working with neighborhood gas stations to get school staff the gas they need
- looking at the future possibility of a 4-day workweek school year schedule (especially during the summer)
Oh man, that last one is going to go over like a lead balloon. I can see the headline now…”Unsupervised Kids Take Over City Hall. Demand Jake’s Ice Cream in Return for Unharmed City Staffers”
Yep, the AJC picked up on this.
Is that flattery or subdued irritation that I am feeling?
“Decatur Metro: If its good enough for the AJC, shouldn’t it be good enough for you?”
After my breathing resumed a normal rhythm and my heart stopped threatening to quit, I emailed Phyllis Edwards about that last point that she made in her memorandum. Here was her reply to me:
Please know that this will not happen without a great deal of study before hand. I mentioned that because it is something that has been done in other places around the nation and in Ga.
Dr. Phyllis A. Edwards
Superintendent
City Schools of Decatur
In my opinion, throwing that into this memorandum was extremely irresponsible. Again, the CSD administration exemplifies the notion of being “short-sighted.”
Hmmm. If only we had a decent large scale development in Decatur which could offer more teachers, police, firemen, and other City employees the opportunity to live in the city limits and enjoy this live/work/play lifestyle we hear so much about. Y’know, something that provides a more … livable… growth option for the City and not necessarily the highest profit margin and highest tax revenue stream to be found.
Speaking hypothetically, I wonder how such a deal could be structured, perhaps a combination of a reduced-cost parcel plus a City-provided subsidy attached to the job offer for those individuals living within the City limits?