As he prepares to develop next year’s budget for Oak Park and River Forest High School, Anthony Arbogast, the school’s finance chief, recently sent a memo to all department heads at OPRF asking them if they had to cut 5% from their budget for next year how would they do that.
That caught the attention of the members of the campus safety team at OPRF and a number of campus safety team members showed up to the March 26 meeting of the school board to express their concerns about the impact that a cut to their budget would have. Five campus safety team members addressed the board during public comments as some of their colleagues stood behind them.
Campus safety team member and chief union steward Anissa Molette led off the public comments.
“It is a decision that will directly impact our ability to safely supervise this building,” Molette said of a potential budget cut.
Molette said even with current staffing it is hard to adequately monitor the large school.
“Safety in this building depends upon consistency, constant coverage across all shifts and right now that is stretched” Molette said.
Molette acknowledged OPRF spends 21% more on security than is recommended for a school of its size according to the state’s evidence based funding model.
“But the model does not reflect the real time demands on this building,” Molette said.
Campus safety team member Carol Blackshear said the school begins the day with 24 safety team members on duty with six of them assigned to stationary posts.
“This leaves 18 staff members to provide coverage across the entire building,” Blackshear said.
Campus safety team member Kamil Werbicki said cutting overtime could affect safety at the school after the regular school day.
“When we talk about overtime budget for our safety and support staff we aren’t talking about extra costs, we are talking about the essential shield of our school’s safety operations,” Werbicki said.
The security guards said they do more than just maintain safety and security at the school. They are trusted adults for some students.
“Our support staff are more than just employees, we are mentors, guides,” Werbicki said.
Werbicki said security is not an area where administrators should be looking to save money. “Our presence and vigilance is worth every penny,” Werbicki said. “In today’s world saving 5% on pay might cost us a lot more.”
Arbogast said the request he made to administrators, including to Campus Safety Director Kristen Devitt, was merely a budgetary exercise and not a direction to make cuts. Arbogast emphasized he is still in the early stages of preparing next year’s budget and no decisions have been made to make any cuts at this time.
“None of our departments here were directed that they have to cut their budgets by 5% or anything like that so I think there was a little bit of misunderstanding,” Arbogast said.
OPRF is entering a time where keeping a tighter lid on costs is perhaps more important than it has been for the past 10 years when the school had enormous cash reserves. OPRF is tapping its reserve fund for approximately $44.2 million of the nearly $102 million cost of the Project 2 construction project that is expected to be completed this summer so the school’s reserve fund will be coming down to more normal levels. OPRF is projecting a $3.2 million operating surplus this year but surpluses are expected to shrink in coming years.