When the classified staff at North Kitsap High School was given a choice to either lose a staff member or everyone’s hours be reduced, they chose the latter.

The school is seeing the lowest enrollment numbers since Kingston High opened. It is these numbers on which state funding is based, thus the lower the enrollment, the fewer dollars the state kicks in.

So the classified staff had to trim its expenses and the staffers’ hours were reduced. Despite fewer students in the hallways and classrooms the workload did not decrease.

For parents, this means the amount of help available to assist parents in wading through the paperwork necessary to get children to school these days isn’t the same as it used to be. It also means there are literally stacks of paperwork the staff is trying desperately to sort through — both from the end of the year last year and the beginning of the year this year.

It’s a common theme in workplaces these days: either staff sizes have gotten smaller or hours are being reduced, but the same amount of work lingers.

It’s frustrating for staff and it’s frustrating for parents.

All that’s necessary is for the parents to be more patient with the hardworking staff, while the staff be diligent in its duties. Think twice before you pick up the phone to hollar at the person on the other end of the conversation. A little civility can go a long way.