Hays High School's Official Student Newspaper

The Guidon Online

Hays High School's Official Student Newspaper

The Guidon Online

Hays High School's Official Student Newspaper

The Guidon Online

‘Not A Fun Time’

The recession started in 2008 but its lasting effects are felt to this very day.

To some students the effects have been very mild. Most students say that it hasn’t even really affected them. While many towns and cities are reeling from the aftershocks, Hays seems to be spared from the worst.

“The recession hasn’t really affected me,” junior Brady Sunley said. “Gas prices went up.”

But to others the recession has hit home, affecting things that most students hold dear.

“Christmas has been really cut back and our vacations aren’t going to be as big,” sophomore Charlie Stiebe said.

But in a harsher way, the recession has affected students directly. According to the Kansas Department of Labor, 6.7 percent of Kansans are unemployed and 25.6 percent of teens are unemployed. Without many jobs available, teens are finding it hard to make ends meet in their family and still have money left for Christmas. Fortunately for Hays there is no shortage of jobs for either teens or adults.

“My dad’s job has actually prospered because of the recession,” sophomore Dusty Barnes said.

Unfortunately Barnes seems to be in the minority with that statement.

“We had to cut back a lot,” junior Lane Martin said. “The stress level has gone up for my mom. It’s not a fun time.”

But students aren’t the only ones affected by the recession. The school district and the state of Kansas are running out of money.

“Education had taken a major hit because there is no money in Kansas,” teacher Jerett Pfannenstiel said. “We haven’t gotten a pay raise in three years and there is no money for sports or extracurricular activities.”

Pfannenstiel isn’t the only one who is concerned about the budget for schools.

“The lack of resources has stretched everyone personally and professionally,” Pricipal Mike Hester said. “It’s the kind of stretch that can’t be sustained for any length of time.”

Hester mentioned that even fundraising may not help for much longer to make up for the cuts.

“You can only fundraise for so long in a bad economy before people give out,” Hester said.

According to Hester, teachers are no longer getting paid to do the extra things they were once paid to do. Everything extra is from their own time and pocket.

The school is still expected to perform high on state testing but without the funding.

“Teachers are covering for the students and the administration is covering for the teachers,” Hester said. “People can only be stretched so much before something gives.”

All that leaves are programs left to be cut. Classes such as Newspaper, Yearbook and Home Ec. classes are up in the air along with several other classes and programs that have been put on the proverbial “Cut List” of USD 489 in an effort to try to balance next year’s budget. In the last five years the budget has been cut 80 percent according to Hester.

Only time will tell if these classes will really be cut and where USD 489 will find the money to balance its budget. But unfortunately, it looks like the aftershocks of the recession, while not always affecting student personally, will be with students and the administration for years to come, never completely leaving them alone.

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