District employees prep for the first day of school
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EUGENE, Ore. -- With thousands of students heading back to the classroom next week, the Eugene 4J School District got teachers and staff started a few days early with a pep talk and workshops Thursday at the Eugene Conference Center.
The center was filled with an estimated 1,600 district employees that got together to prepare for the new school year.
One of the features to the 4J District's kickoff event was the pep talk from Eugene Superintendent Sheldon Berman. In his speech Berman said that the district may not be facing huge budget cuts like it has in the past, but has been presented with other issues.
Berman said that the board is faced with the decision of remodeling the aging buildings throughout the district, or to build completely new buildings.
"If you look at Holt and Chavez, or Cal Young or Madison -- they are extraordinary buildings that facilitate high quality learning, and we should be providing that for all our students." Berman said.
Berman added that the school board hasn't settled on a plan yet, and the decisions are not expected until later in the school year.
Voters may have a chance to help decide the outcome by voting on three bond measures scheduled for next year's election. Berman said that the projected costs of any plan, be it retrofitting existing schools or building new spaces, could cost upwards of $200,000,000.
Get ready, here it comes. You will see or here something in the news every single day somewhere about how they need more money, not how they can cut back like the rest of us have had to do.