Granny_Weatherwax Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 (edited) Education in our area has been hit hard the last three months. The nearest state university restructured a number of support offices and laid off multiple employees. In January, the same university cut 50 FT faculty positions and disbanded two departments; this will be the last year for those depts. A friend of mine who has two master's degrees and was head of his dept was demoted and took a drastic pay cut; he is simply happy he still has a job. The local LAC has been hiring PhDs to fill in basic staff positions (positions that call for a BA or MA and pay less than 50K a year) - the applicant pool is filled with under- or unemployed academics - but resorting to searching for adjuncts to fill open class sections because they cannot afford to hire full time faculty. Also in January, the local public school district announced it is closing the alternative high school, an elementary school, laying off 35 teachers, 2 police officers,and multiple support staff including coaches. The high school is losing all but one secretary. The local CC made an announcement that they are cutting multiple sections and classes. As a result, it is predicted that fewer adjuncts will be contracted and the number of support staff will see further reductions. Some of these cuts are due to the announcement that the local hospitals will no longer hire nurses with a two-year (AA) degree and all new hires must have a BSN. Indeed, current nurses have 5 years to begin the BSN transition or they will be subject to termination. (Notice none of these institutions is making administrative cuts.) The largest non-educational industry in our area has laid off over 350 employees with more layoffs to come in the next couple of months. The local hospitals are using mandatory shift rotations for its non-essential employees. Secretaries are working in 6 week rotations (6 weeks on, 6 weeks off), for example. I have no idea how to encourage my students except to tell them to keep working hard and to plan on moving away as soon as they can. Which I don't like doing. Edited February 4, 2016 by ScoutermominIL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilaclady Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Wow that is quite sad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nancy in NH Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Oh, my! Such bad news all around. That is depressing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 That is depressing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 How depressing! How worrisome/horrible for the community! :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bugs Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Wow, what a bummer! Has the population decreased? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 How depressing! Is this because of something temporary like the results of the bad economy finally trickling down (or up) and causing funding cuts, or is it because of a change that is more lasting, like manufacturing moving to China? If you can determine that, it might give you some idea of how to combat it - ways to wait out the lows without losing your savings or investments, careers that are less dependent on local conditions, etc. I think it would be really hard to parent teens/twenties young people while surrounded by negativity and hopelessness. Maybe find some way of getting everyone out into the community to be helpful? Sometimes helping others helps alleviate one's own depression. It would provide a reason for staying put in a depressed area, anyway. Hugs, Nan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnMyOwn Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Yes, that is depressing. I live in the DC area and we haven't been hit as hard as other areas of the country, but I do not feel optimistic either. I have been making a real effort to focus on each day and trying to make it the best I can for myself and my family because I do not feel that good things are headed our way. I think the future looks very bleak and that there are going to be a whole lot of people without jobs at all. I think, as you are seeing, more and more highly educated people will feel lucky just to have a job and that many of those jobs will be for lower level, less rewarding positions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 (edited) How depressing! Is this because of something temporary like the results of the bad economy finally trickling down (or up) and causing funding cuts, or is it because of a change that is more lasting, like manufacturing moving to China? If you can determine that, it might give you some idea of how to combat it - ways to wait out the lows without losing your savings or investments, careers that are less dependent on local conditions, etc. I think it would be really hard to parent teens/twenties young people while surrounded by negativity and hopelessness. Maybe find some way of getting everyone out into the community to be helpful? Sometimes helping others helps alleviate one's own depression. It would provide a reason for staying put in a depressed area, anyway. I would guess it is because of the budget mess in Illinois. Since July last year, the state has not funded public universities - because they cannot agree on a budget. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2016/01/07/universities-left-footing-bill-budget-crisis-looms-illinois http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2015/11/17/how-illinois-budget-stalemate-impacting-public-universities I don't know where in the state ScoutermominIL is... but there are plenty of the abysmal stories http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2016-02-03/updated-eiu-backers-plan-rally-face-200-layoffs.html Chicago State may have to close in March - they can meet one more payroll: http://rollingout.com/2016/01/24/chicago-state-university-danger-closing-alumni-speak/ Western is cutting jobs. I don't know whether I would consider a broken political system as temporary. Edited February 4, 2016 by regentrude 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nan in Mass Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Yikes! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted February 4, 2016 Share Posted February 4, 2016 That definitely sounds bad! Here in PA our state has gone 200+ days without a budget with no end in sight. It has affected many areas, but they did some sort of stopgap to repair a little bit. Still... We are fortunate enough in our local area that it doesn't hit hard. I have no idea if that's true in other areas of our state or not, but I haven't heard of stories like yours. Our school is always cutting back, but that's to avoid raising local taxes since they have to pay more for health care and retirement. Students might be being shorted some (esp with field trips and similar), but nothing terribly major at this point. You mentioned encouraging your kids to move when they can. I think that's wise given your circumstances. We've brought ours up knowing the planet was theirs (more or less) so they were to find a spot they liked when they settle down. I'm glad we did that. They have no baggage about not building a nest here if they prefer somewhere else, yet they still know they're always welcome here if that's what happens. No strings. No commitments. The future is always unknown. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 (Notice none of these institutions is making administrative cuts.) :banghead: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom22ns Posted February 6, 2016 Share Posted February 6, 2016 Wow, that is depressing. Regentrude, thanks for the run-down. My sister lives in IL and her oldest graduated a year ago and her youngest is doing occasional college and mostly military. I had totally missed the collapse of their public university system. I do feel fortunate when I look at public education in our state/area. Our local CC is growing by leaps and bounds. It is regional, not a county thing like I have seen others mention. They have added several satellite campuses and struggle to grow fast enough to keep up with demands. Our state U's have the same budget struggles that any do, but are all reasonably healthy. Ds's LAC did some layoffs this year due to lower enrollment for a couple of years in a row. I'm hoping they can restructure in a way to continue to be successful. I really love the school for ds. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny_Weatherwax Posted February 6, 2016 Author Share Posted February 6, 2016 Thanks for the responses. I didn't mean to begin a conversation and then leave for a couple of days but life happens and I haven't been able to get back to TWTM. Yes, the population of our small city (~33,000) is slowly declining. We have had multiple plant closures and the unemployment rate is fairly high; the city has been the object of the Obama administration and he visits frequently (4X in the past few years) when he needs to show his affection for small town IL. Nothing has changed, however, and the city is actually worse off than it was when his administration began. We are mostly a farming & blue collar community. No tech industry, no manufacturing (anymore), a dead downtown, no geographical/geological attractions (mountain, river, state park), tenuous town-gown relationship with the local LAC, no shopping...the woes of our area are numerous and varied. The state is a mess and I don't foresee any measures in the works that will help our area in the near future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny_Weatherwax Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 I had to resurrect this due to recent happenings. The local CC is closing one of the branch campuses and laying off multiple employees. I'm at a loss for words. The local public school board met yesterday and voted on the layoffs and cutbacks that were announced earlier. The town is torn and tempers are flaring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 I had to resurrect this due to recent happenings. The local CC is closing one of the branch campuses and laying off multiple employees. I'm at a loss for words. The local public school board met yesterday and voted on the layoffs and cutbacks that were announced earlier. The town is torn and tempers are flaring. This is scary. I know our state has gone something like 240 days without a budget due to politics, but so far, they've managed to avoid drastic things like you're talking about. I saw an interview with one of the politicians earlier this week and he said there's no end in sight, so who knows what will happen as we close in on a year. Personally, I think many of our states and even our federal gov't need to get some of us moms/dads in there who know how to complete a household budget and there'd be fewer big problems, but that will never happen as long as politicians get their money and votes from pet projects or ideologies. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicory Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 My sympathies... it's so sad when a community looks up and sees a steamroller coming slowly towards them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MerryAtHope Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Ugh, how scary, I'm sorry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Granny_Weatherwax Posted February 26, 2016 Author Share Posted February 26, 2016 I read the local newspaper report of the meeting. There were police officers at the board meeting to protect the board an ensure they could conduct their business without interruption. Public questions and comments were kept to a minimum. The biggest point of contention is that the majority of academic or enrichment clubs were cut and all votes on athletic cuts were tabled. Evidently the boosters are fighting for athletics but proposals to fund raise for academic and enrichment clubs were denied. I am thankful I no longer have children in this school district. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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