The Charleston School Board cut approximately $450,000 of funding in the first phase of the cost saving plan at Thursday’s. Members approved phase one during Wednesday night’s meeting.

The cuts included the assistant principal position at the Charleston Middle School and the elimination of numerous athletic events throughout all levels of play; excluding varsity events.

Approximately $40,000 in savings will come from the elimination of certain school athletic events.

“Keep in mind, these are middle school and lower level high school programs,” said Jim Littleford superintendent of the Charleston school district. “We pulled out the varsity programs because we would like to study these more with our coaches.”

These cuts include paid officials for Jefferson Middle School basketball games, a 75 percent reduction in middle school and high school sporting equipment and has eliminated the Charleston Holiday Basketball Tournaments.

During the last holiday tournament, the school lost almost $8,500 on the event due to low attendance.

This was after numerous local teams made the final games, Littleford said.

Eight middle school athletic events and 23 high school athletic events have been eliminated for next year’s seasons.

However, the board did not pass the package in its entirety. The board tabled the action to eliminate the varsity swim team until next month’s meeting.

Yet, not all members of the board were in favor of this.

“We were looking at this as a source of revenue, and there is none (with the swimming team)” said Jeff Coon, school board treasurer. “This is an incredibility expensive sport.”

The Charleston School District does not have a facility for the event and the team must travel further than most of the other school teams in order to compete, because of the lack of teams in the East Central Illinois area.

Ron Miller, the school board president, was in favor of tabling the act in order to receive community response.

“The segment we have left out is the community, and that is an important part,” Miller said. “For us to take action without having the community input is what is missing.”

The assistant principle position at the Charleston Middle School has also been cut, saving the school district $80,000.

Kevin Oakley is the current assistant principal at the middle school, but he will be moving up to the principal position for the 2010-2011 school year.

The district administrators pay freeze, which was in the original package, was pulled to be voted on separately. While the pay freeze was approved, it came with discussion from the members.

Board member Jerry Esker thought the issue should be addressed apart from the rest of the package because of recent figures he had found concerning the pay of the district’s administration compared to how many hours the administration puts in a week.

The district’s administration salary is lower than many schools in the area, Esker said.

“I feel we are trying to send a symbolic message by freezing the salaries of the administration, the ones who put in the most hours and the ones whose backs the budget is built on.” Esker said. “I think we are sending a message and it’s the wrong one.”

Despite Esker’s comments, the pay freeze was passed.

The pay freeze will save the district approximately $19,600 and will affect all administration, except who already have contracts in place, like Oakley and Diane Hutchins, the Charleston High School Principal.

Other budget cuts include:

The elimination of mail delivery within the district; $34,000

The elimination of two part-time technology and maintenance positions; $6,944

The elimination of summer maintenance staff; $9,695

The reduction in the technology budget by 5 percent; $20,000

The reduction in technology hardware and online subscriptions; $3,500

The reduction of the building budget by 10 percent; $35,000

The use of Title II funding for class size reduction come from a different source; $40,000

The reduction of substitute teacher pay from about $90 per day to $75; $60,000

The suspension of the school board convention, $6,630.

The suspension of textbooks and classroom furniture expenses, $87,000

Summer school will now be reserved for the seventh through twelfth grades and the school district; $30,592.

The elimination of the air conditioning systems; $1,000

Kayleigh Zyskowski can be reached at 581-7942 or at kzyskowski@eiu.edu