ethical dilema(nsr)

[laseranimal]

Talk about your major gut checking moral compass skewing no win situation choice that I get to make next week

As most of you know I'm the director of a before and after school program, well the school district I'm in has submitted its budget to be voted on for next year, along with the 3.9% increase in taxes which I have no problem with is that next year the district plans on offering full day kindergarten, which will be an AWESOME thing for all the kids. Only problem is that this could potentially put me and the 8 other people I work with out of a job. Right now we provide day care for 3 and 4 year olds and have 14 spots for after school kindergarten care. Since the state of NY has a universal pre-K program that provides parents and daycare centers with subsidized care we've really seen a loss in numbers with our program. Its simple economics if you were a parent would you pay $110 a week or go to the universal Pre-K program that’s pretty much free (taxpayer funded).

Since we're a religious day care (we say prayers before meals and talk about God) we can't qualify for Universal Pre-K, I'm not complaining that we can't get funding its a very clear church state issue and we'd rather stay the way we are rather then change our program around like some of the Church affiliated day cares have done. Now we've lost a lot of kids but we hold on because we have satellite non religious programs at both of the Elementary schools and like I said we have 14 spots for kindergarten care and we're the only place around that has a place for kindergartners because of the incredible amount of regulations/stipulations that the state of NY puts on daycare’s with kindergartners and "little guys"(3 and 4 year olds). Now the reason our program stays afloat is that since we're the only game in town for kindergarten care, we give priority to the kids who have been in our program when we fill our Kindergarten roster and usually only wind up with 2 or 3 spots left for children outside our program, then once they reach 1st grade they again would get priority into our before and after school programs.

Needless to say an all day kindergarten program in the school would torpedo any kind of leverage we had with a parent who was debating between universal Pre-K and paying for our program. And once we start losing kids there's less money to pay staff because your required ratio becomes less (i.e. if you have 30 children who are 3 years old you need to have 5 teachers to be at ratio) Plus as a teacher you are licensed to work with 3 year olds, 4 year olds, kindergarteners, or school aged kids. There is some overlap but it takes some time to get re-certified for another level. So here's the dilema, this is a family day care the boss is my godmother in law, my mother in law works there, as does my godmothers two sisters, and everybody else down to the part time college workers are friends of the family. We've figured out that if the budget goes through we're going to have to lose 3 staff initially and it probably would be more once the whole thing shakes out. If the buget went into effect today we'd effectively go from 35 kids and 5 full time staff and 3 part timers to 21 kids and 3 staff and 1 part timer.

Now for my dilema, I have no idea why but NOBODY in town comes out for the budget vote, its usually passed by 20-30 votes and the turnout is almost non existant. With a little campaigning using the old fashioned tactic of fear and uncertainty(i.e. "yes there will be all day kindergarten but the class size will be IMMENSE do you really want your child to be in a classroom with 30 other kids and only one teacher?" which isn't the case but we're dealing with sheep here, this is a blue collar working town where most of the population has a high school diploma and thats it. I could probably come up with the votes sink the budget, it would be really slimy and low but I could do it. Which leads me to sunny point #2 my father in law knows everyone in the town, he's good friends with the superintendant of schools and all the people involved in the schools, he has been urged several times to run for school board and has lately been pushing me to run which is something I would very much like to do, but if this budget fails, we have whats called an austerity budget, which basically means EVERYTHING that isn't mandated by the state is cut, that means no music, no art, no sports, no computer club, no band, basically every extracuricular activity and all non core classes are dropped, and to add to this fun, once an austerity budget has been passed, the property taxes drop, which make more people more bold about voting down the school budget every year. My father in law tells stories about the last time the budget went down, it was 6 years before they got a budget passed, he had to go door to door with the superintendant campaigning to get it passed.


which leads me to my choice. My job should be pretty secure, I'm the most well qualified and educated person at the day care, I'm married to the directors daughter, and the owners goddaughter, and even if I did lose the job there I'd still have my before and after school gig. I could very easily do what I always do and vote for the budget to pass thus putting my boss in the difficult situation of choosing between me and one of her sisters, or I could attempt to sabotoge the budget and save everyones job, but screw myself out of any hope of running for any elected office in the city and alienate myself from all of the teachers at the school where I work.


WWMD??

[JR]

Woah, can't believe I read all that.

Well laseranimal, in situations like that I always ask myself how I would feel about something like that when I am on my deathbed. Would I regret my actions?

Are the consequences of either course of action that you envision accurate?

Can you live with the consequences?

Are you responsible for making yourself happy or the whole world?

I know what I would do in your situation but that is not important. What can you live with?

[dipstik]

Originally posted by JR
Woah, can't believe I read all that.

me either

[seldon]

Originally posted by dipstik
me either

Grammatically, you should have said, "Me neither." However, none of this changes the fact that laseranimal needs to go skiing. Pronto.

[laseranimal]

Originally posted by seldon
Grammatically, you should have said, "Me neither." However, none of this changes the fact that laseranimal needs to go skiing. Pronto.

no kidding

[bad_roo]

The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

[Canuk]

Laser -

Tough choice man. I would hate to be in your position.

I would hope that the budget passes. Art, music, band, drama, sports etc. are much too important in the overall development of a child to do without. This is a really easy statement for me to make because my job, and the job's of my co-workers are not affected.

You need to do what is right for the kids. Good luck, man.

Canuk

[Arty50]

As someone who has worked with kids in day care and summer care, I'd like to second this...

Originally posted by Canuk
You need to do what is right for the kids. Good luck, man.

[EPSkis]

HAD a rather lengthy reply going, but after having read the particulars several times over...

Tough call.

Bottom line: If the budget fails, who really suffers? The kids.

I don't believe someone in your position or Profession is willing to let that happen. I understand it's a difficult situation, but you don't have to be the one to make the decision. You've worked hard to put yourself where you're AT today, and should be treated accordingly. Don't feel "guilty" about that.

(My original reply was much better, but there ya go..)

[CS]

Tough situation laser. I'd have to agree with the others on this and do what is best for the kids. Having the extracuricular activities axed would be bad for the kids. I know a lot of friends in school who stayed in school just because of those things. Good luck man.

[AntiSoCalSkier]

As I understand it, ff the budget passes, kids will leave your program and go into the school districts program, right?Then, because of this, some of your fellow employees get laid off.

If I'm understanding things, correctly, it sounds like there might be some new positions for teachers opening up at the school district, so those who are laid off may be able to find new jobs without too much trouble. Maybe that will help you out.

Regardless, if I was a parent and someone killed all of the good stuff at school just to save 4 or 5 jobs, I'd be seriously upset.

[The AD]

It seems like your entire job deals with teaching kids. You realize voting in favor of the budget would benefit the kids, so that's what you should do. This budget vote is about the kids, not the few jobs that may be lost if it goes through. Would other jobs be lost if the budget doesn't go through? What about the people who would lose their positions in the clubs and sports due to them being eliminated?

[bad_roo]

Heh - I was wondering how long it'd be before I got spocked.