‘Sorry about the state of the place. I bought it at auction, and it needs a lot of work.’ He sank into the sofa.
‘Oh right. My landlord used to rent it out, I didn’t realise it had gone to auction. I didn’t even realise they were selling. Obviously, I was aware it had been empty a while, though.’ She glanced around. Where was she supposed to sit? She couldn’t very well cosy up to him on the sofa. That would just be weird.
‘Take a seat.’
Lowering herself to the floor, Gemma unleashed Alfie from his lead and watched incredulously as he jumped straight up onto the sofa and snuggled down next to Jonathan. Even more incredulously, her grumpy boss didn’t seem to have a problem with it either. ‘Sorry, I can get him down if you like?’
‘He’s fine. ‘
She nodded. He was fine. Alfie was fine sitting on the expensive leather sofa. Shaking her head slightly, she forced herself to remember why she was here and to get back to theconversation at hand. ‘So why have you chosen to make people redundant? I understand you need to find the money, but there must be another way. We could cut back on school trips. I know they’re often heavily subsidised. Or resources. We could just make do with what we have rather than putting any new orders in.’ Yes, they were desperate for paint and new trikes down in Early Years, but they’d make do if it meant people could keep their jobs.
Leaning forward, Jonathan pulled a folder towards him across the coffee table, flipped it open and turned it to face Gemma.
‘What’s this?’ Shuffling closer to the coffee table, she picked it up and looked at the spreadsheet in front of her, trying to make sense of the swarm of numbers.
‘The deficit. The trust wants savings of two hundred thousand pounds by September. I can cut resources, I can freeze training, but after that, there’s only staff.’ Looking down at the spreadsheet, he pinched the bridge of his nose.
‘But...’ Gemma ran the pad of her finger across the numbers; she’d never been any good at spreadsheets. She’d got used to the structure of the ones they used in class to track progress, but this... this was different. This seemed too complicated. Two hundred thousand pounds, though. That was a lot of money. An awful lot, but... but what if they could find it another way? What if they didn’t have to cut staff?
‘The staff-to-pupil ratio is high. Higher than most primary schools I’ve taught at or led. We have the flexibility.’
She shook her head. ‘No, that’s why it works. That’s why we get the results we do at the school. That’s why parents choose to send their kids to us and why the children are happy to come. Besides, it would mean having to change the classes around, having mixed year groups, which, yes, I know can work really well, but still… No, there’s got to be another way.’
He shook his head slowly. ‘Do you not think I’ve been searching for another answer? I’ve spent the whole week searching through reams of paperwork trying to work out if there’s another way.’
Kneeling up, she leaned her elbows on the coffee table and rubbed her eyes. She needed to think. Lowering her hands, she pushed the folder away. ‘Have you got a piece of paper and a pen?’
‘Yes.’ Reaching behind him, he pulled a pad of paper and a pencil case from a bookshelf and placed them on the coffee table.
‘Thanks.’ Taking a pen from the case, Gemma pulled the paper towards her and scribbled the offending words£200,000in the centre of the blank page.
‘It’s a heck of a lot of money.’
‘I know, but let’s just try. Please. Let’s just mind map all the different ways we might be able to save money.’ She tapped the end of the pen against her chin and looked across at him. He looked so drained, and it was obvious he was carrying a huge emotional load because of this, because of the job he’d just walked into, but she wasn’t trying to say he hadn’t done his best, but surely two heads were better than one? ‘It’s worth a try, isn’t it?’
Sighing, he indicated the paper. ‘Go ahead.’
Gemma nodded. ‘What have you got so far? Apart from the staff cuts, I mean.’
‘As I’ve said, we will freeze all paid training, which I know won’t be a popular choice, but...’
‘But training doesn’t have to cost thousands. There’s plenty of free training out there.’ She scribbledfreeze trainingdown and drew a thick line from the centre of the mind map to it. ‘Another unpopular idea, but why don’t we cancel the whole school trip to the cinema?’
‘You take the whole school to the cinema? Don’t the parents pay?’
‘No, it’s a treat from the school. We usually hire it out on the last day of the summer term and take the kids up there in a couple of shifts.’
‘And that comes out of the school budget? Not the PTA budget?’ He widened his eyes.
‘I don’t actually know, but as I understand, the PTA funds have all been spent anyway, apart from what we earned today at the school fete.’ She shrugged. She wasn’t one hundred percent certain where the money came from for what, but cutting that trip must help a bit, surely?
‘Yes, write it down then.’ Picking up the folder, he flicked through the pages before pulling a few sheets of paper out and passing them across to Gemma. ‘This is what I have so far. What I thought we could cut down on. Of course, there’s still a two-wage gap between the proposed savings and the deficit.’
‘Thanks.’ Sticking the pen through her messy bun, she took the pages and scanned them. There were loads of cuts. Cuts to training and resources as he’d suggested but also things she’d never have thought of, the less obvious such as negotiating better energy deals with companies and re-tendering cleaning contracts. She looked up at him and caught his eye. He truly was trying to avoid staffing cuts. He wasn’t flippantly suggesting tearing people’s lives apart lightly.
‘I’m not the big bad wolf you thought I was, hey?’ He smiled sadly. ‘I am trying my best.’
‘Oh, I...’ He looked so sad, forlorn. He really was taking this personally, wasn’t he? Leaning forward, she reached across the coffee table and placed her hand on his without thinking, surprised by his warmth. A split second later, she pulled it back, horrified at what she’d done. ‘Sorry, I...’
