As schools across our area are making drastic cuts, costing teachers their jobs, one area school found a simple way to save money and they will be able to hire seven new people.
Stepanie Carroll is a 6th grade math teacher at Moyock Middle School in Currituck County.
"I`m very thankful I`m not in one of those districts right now. Last year, we were in the same boat and hopefully Virginia Beach and Chesapeake and anyone else who is going through all that can pull through and be as lucky as us," says Carroll.
This year, her school district is hoping to hire people to cover six full-time and one part-time position. She says she could use the help. "We don`t really have a whole lot of help in the classroom, but we have taken on more duties losing the teacher`s assistants, covering in-school suspension and doing some extra duties."
So the question is, what are these schools doing differently?
It is actually pretty simple. They saved a ton of money by keeping the thermostat a couple of degrees cooler in the winter and a couple of degrees warmer in the summer; that, paired with reworking school bus routes saved Currituck $200,000.
Under a draft of the budget, two teacher assistants positions will be added to the middle schools, and two more to the elementary schools. That extra cash would also bring a guidance counselor, a media specialist and a part-time nurse; all that just by saving energy.
The extra positions are being proposed in next year's operating budget, but it still has to be passed by council.
