Extreme Austerity Status Applied in JLSS

The finance office notified the director on Monday 27 February 2012 that seventy out of the eighty Million LBP budgeted for diesel this year has already been spent. It has been a very tough winter this year. It started very early and we have gone from one storm to another. Temperatures this year already dropped to -3.2 degrees Celsius at night during snow storms.
The director issued a memorandum putting our school under Extreme Austerity Status. The electricity generators will go off each night at 10.00 instead of 11.00 pm. The educators (night duty staff) were instructed to stop using central heating and rely on electric heating of the student lounge of every boarding home instead. The only exception to that is during snow storms. The supervisors of workshops of the vocational department were advised to carefully use whatever diesel they still have as their tanks will  not be refilled this year. We will continue using central heating for classes for three hours a day, and academic supervisors were urged to switch off central heating on reasonably warm sunny days.
The director also contacted the president of the Parents' Committee requesting her help in making parents understand the gravity of the situation. Diesel was very expensive this year. 20 liters of diesel are sold for 32.000 LBP (1 US$ = 1507 LBP). Many parents are demanding extra heating hours during the day. The director asked the president of the Parents' Committee to discuss the situation with parents. He explained that central heating for three hours is adequate and classrooms are warm enough during classes to the last hour. If parents demand extra heating hours they will have to pay for the diesel. The administration will be more than happy to heat classrooms in accordance with the parents' wishes, but they will have to provide the extra funds needed to pay the extra diesel bills.
By the end of this academic year we will have a huge deficit on our diesel budget, in addition to the other huge deficit due to the recent increase in salaries. We urge our alumni, friends, and partners to help us meet the challenges of this very cold winter of very high diesel prices.
We pray that oil-rich states will realize their responsibility towards their fellow sisters and brothers in humanity. They must bring down diesel prices, at least during winter, to enable the struggling nations to survive.  The earth's resources belong to all human beings and all creatures (great and small) of God's creation. They must be shared fairly! Nations working for peace on earth must understand that peace is not only the cessation of wars, but also fairly sharing the resources of mother earth!