NORWOOD PARK — Class sizes will not grow at Oriole Park Elementary School despite a "severe" mid-year budget cut, Principal Tim Riff said.
In addition, Riff said he was "elated" that no teachers would be laid off at the top-rated Norwood Park school despite the loss of more than $103,300, or 3.36 percent of its budget — the most of any Far Northwest Side school.
"This is not to say that the cut was not painful or will have no impact on the school," Riff wrote to parents.
Like many CPS leaders, Riff told parents he knew it was just a matter of when — not if — the cuts were implemented because of the budget crisis engulfing the district. But even with Riff's cost-cutting, the school was left with a $40,000 budget hole.
Riff said he drained the funds set aside for Oriole Park's afterschool programs, to pay for substitute teachers and to pay for new textbooks.
"Making up for this budget shortfall was not easy to accomplish," Riff said.
In addition, the Oriole Park School Educational Foundation offered a $12,000 donation to the school at 5424 N. Oketo Ave. to prevent teachers from being laid off, Riff said.
"Ultimately, this assistance did not prove to be necessary, but the offer, and potential safety net, provided much needed relief and could have made the difference between losing a teacher and not," Riff said.
Riff asked parents to plan to attend the foundation's annual Night Out fundraiser to help rebuild the school's reserves.
The Night Out fundraiser set for 6 p.m. Feb. 26 at Edelweiss Restaurant, 7650 W. Irving Park Road, will also raise money for document cameras for every classroom and "much-needed" science supplies, Riff said.
Tickets for the event are available online for $45 per person or $85 per couple, organizers said.
Online bids can be submitted for the silent auction.
Last year, the event raised $20,000 for a portable stage for the school's multipurpose room and 30 laptop computers and a storage cart to move them from classroom to classroom, school officials said.
Ten elementary schools on the Far Northwest Side saw their budgets slashed by more than 3 percent as part of unprecedented midyear budget cuts announced by Chicago Public Schools officials.
To help fill a $480 million budget deficit, CPS officials reduced the amount of money the district gives each school for each student. In order to lessen the blow, district officials agreed to give schools leftover state funds and federal money set aside for low-income students.
But that means the schools that suffered the biggest cuts will be the ones with the highest enrollments as well as those with the fewest low-income students, like most — if not all — Far Northwest Side schools.
More than 20 percent of the schools citywide that lost more than 3 percent of their budget are on the Far Northwest Side, one of the most affluent areas of the city — and a part of the city where schools are significantly overcrowded.
Seven other Far Northwest Side schools lost 2 percent to 3 percent of their budget, while two others lost less than 2 percent, according to documents released by school officials.
CPS officials said they had no choice but to make the cuts after it became clear state officials had no intention of filling the school district's budget hole, and negotiations for a new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union fell apart.
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