EDGEWATER — Despite a big budget cut at Senn High School, the faculty can breathe a sigh of relief.
None of them will be laid off.
The school will take a $470,000 hit to its upcoming budget, said Principal Susan Lofton, but all its faculty and staff positions have been retained and the school has balanced its new budget.
"We were funded for 80 positions and we kept them all. No one is losing their position," Lofton said at a Local School Council meeting Thursday night.
The Senn principal noted that the budget came with its own set of difficulties, in addition to the financial hit.
"We've been shoring up and tightening up" in anticipation of budget cuts, Lofton said, "We had to sit and think long and hard."
Senn officials said they compensated by making cuts to the budgets for janitorial supplies and substitute teachers. The school also recently raised student fees, and got a one-time grant of $300,000 from Loyola University, officials said.
As CPS closes 50 schools, Senn is on the path toward a science lab upgrade in addition to two new computer labs scheduled for construction.
"It's been really difficult for schools all over the city," Lofton said. "But Senn is in a different situation."
As the budget was put to a vote Thursday night, Dan Kleinman, the lone dissenter of the 10 council members present, voted against it.
"My honest concern is, what does the next year look like and the year after that?" he said, arguing that a precedent of "doing more with less and less" is being set by CPS.
"I think the school needs to lead in a fight that is beyond this room."
To that effect, Senn's LSC voted on a motion to discuss a "letter of solidarity" at its next meeting.
