Tired of spending more time at the office than at home, a Nebraska school superintendent decided to live on the grounds of his district’s high school.
Robert Broomfield, who heads the Raymond Central Public Schools in the mid-western state, towed his caravan to the isolated school where he has his office.
“I’m here more than I’m home, so I thought I should be closer to a place where I can hang my hat,” said Dr Broomfield, whose permanent house is 12 miles away.
Living on school grounds would allow him to attend more meetings and supervise other school activities, he said. The arrangement also would provide extra security at the 23-acre campus, a remote former nuclear missile site.
Dr Broomfield said he has been asked to do more since the school board cut about $300,000 (Pounds 176,000), much of it by sacking staff. “I feel I need to be here,” he said. “This job is very time-consuming.”
But in a final twist, parents complained about the cost of providing power and phone connections to the caravan, and Dr Broomfield has decided not to live at school.
“It was the age-old thing of ‘The big guy’s making too much money, so why should we also pay for his house?’” Dr Broomfield said. “I thought I was doing the district a favour.”
