Governor Riley To Sign Education Budget

By Steve Alexander Reporter

Meantime, some terminated teachers are doing volunteer work during the summer Governor Riley To Sign Education Budget

Published: Wed, June 11, 2008 - 9:23 pm

Steve Alexander

Alabama Governor Bob Riley is scheduled to sign the state education budget Thursday morning.
He's holding a ceremony at a school in Prattville.
The budget is cut almost $370 million from last year, and that has led to layoffs among teachers and central office staff around the state.
While these teachers and administrators are waiting to hear if they'll be hired back, some are stepping up and volunteering their time to help former students.
Mobile County teachers JoAnn Christopher and Lori Vaghefi were terminated as fine arts specialists with the school system May 21.
But they are really still on the job.
This past year, they worked with students from seven different Mobile schools.
The students formed a group called Mobile in Motion.
Christopher said, "We did it to showcase the talent of the dancers in the Mobile County Public School System. And we put the show together and took it to Disney World and performed it down there."
Later this month, the students are putting on the show again, for free, in Mobile, to promote the city.
So Christopher and Vaghefi are back at work, this time as volunteers.
When asked how rewarding has it been to work with the students, Vaghefi said, "Tremendously rewarding."
Christopher added, "Lori and I have been very busy with the production end of it (the show), working on the technical aspects at the Saenger Theatre, and getting the groups back together and pulling the teachers in to pull their students in for the show."
In the meantime, Christopher and Vaghefi may have to wait until the end of August to find out if they have jobs.
Vaghefi said, "We've sort of in limbo right now. You can't really do anything until they (school system officials) decide, so we're just waiting for them to decide."
And Christopher said, "We just keep trying to have the faith and think on the positive side, (but) anything that we can do to reinforce the arts in school I think both of us would be willing to continue forever."
The "Mobile In Motion" dance troupe will hold its free show Thursday,June 19 at 7pm at the Saenger Theatre.
The show is being sponsored by the City of Mobile.