School District in Ohio Shortens Day to Just 5 1/2 Hours Due to Lack of Funds

Government in America today has become so burdened down with bad priorities, poorly structured, poorly negotiated, and poorly financed retirement plans for state workers and corporate subsidies for failing businesses such as wineries, just to name one, that vital services, services that could positively and materially affect regular individual citizens, go wanting. [Source]

Garfield Heights Shortens School Day, Parents Blame Voters

January 17, 2012

Fox 8 News , Garfield Heights, Ohio - Parents, staff and children in the Garfield Heights School District are getting a hard lesson in economics.

"I don't think it's good for the children," one parent said as she picked up her son from school.

As of Tuesday, programs like elementary music, art and physical education are gone and libraries are closed.

School days are shortened to just 5 1/2 hours -- leaving kids less time for instruction, and working parents scrambling.

"What are kids gonna do with that big window of time when their parents are still working and all that idle time that they still have, to do God knows what?" parent Jeff Bodziony said.

Hot school lunches are also thing of the past.

In fact, lunch is a thing of the past.

Students used to have lunch in the noon hour.

Instead they are now sent home at 1:15 p.m.

Kids who qualify for free lunches were sent home Tuesday with a bologna sandwich, an apple and a pickle.

One student told Fox 8's Emily Valdez her teacher brought in food for her students.

"It's almost sad. 'Here's your lunch, go home,'" parent Amy Sedlak said.

Parents Fox 8 News spoke with are not blaming the school district, but rather the voters who did not approve levies that would have given the school district money.

From the GarfieldHieghtsCitySchools website the new school hours have been posted:

From Ohio 15th District Blog:

New School Hours Start January 17, 2012:

Elmwood and William Foster Elementary	8:10 a.m. – 1:40 p.m.
Morning Kindergarten & Preschool	8:10 a.m. – 10:50 a.m.
Afternoon Kindergarten & Preschool	11:00 a.m. – 1:40 p.m.
Maple Leaf Intermediate	7:40 a.m. - 1:10 p.m.
Middle School	7:45 a.m. – 1:15 p.m.
High School	7:42 a.m. - 1:40 p.m.

The Garfield Heights School District has been unable to pass a school levy for many, many years. These types of cuts have happened over the years in many Ohio school districts because elected officials refuse to take on school funding. Gov. John Kasich did make major cuts in school funding in his budget.

The Republican controlled Ohio General Assembly has been too, too, too busy doing other things rather than solve school funding. The Republican agenda in Ohio has included a heart beat bill, more abortion restrictions, an attempt to end collective bargaining, selling Ohio's prisons, restructuring the Ohio Department of Development to follow Kasich's wishes, allowing guns in restaurants, refusing federal funding for a rail system, telling lies about Ohio's public employees, making cuts to Ohio's health programs for the poor and elderly, expanding charter school enrollment, cutting public education funds, cutting funds to cities/counties and local governments, etc.

While our state tax money keeps flowing to failing charter schools that serve a small percentage of Ohio's students, our public school children are losing out because the GOP won't fix our school funding.