With just two and one-half weeks before the start of classes, several individuals will be losing their jobs with the Trenton R-9 School District following action taken during an executive session held by the R-9 Board of Education held last Thursday night.
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With just two and one-half weeks before the start of classes, several individuals will be losing their jobs with the Trenton R-9 School District following action taken during an executive session held by the R-9 Board of Education held last Thursday night.
According to information provided this morning by the R-9 School District, cuts involve both certified and non-certified personnel as well as elimination of programs that were announced on Thursday. Included in the list of 11 persons were four teachers at the Rissler Elementary School, along with a counselor, as well as one teacher at the middle school and the instructor of the alternative school. Three paraprofessionals and one cook had their contracts terminated while two extra-duty administrative assignments were also terminated.
Teachers whose contracts for the 2003-2004 school year were terminated and who were put on unrequested leave without pay include Christopher Smith and Sara Jacobs, second grade; Angela Critten, fourth grade; Janara Sims, sixth grade; Connie Smith, elementary counselor; Sylvia Bowen, elementary and middle school gifted program; and Gene Schelker, alternative school director.
“It’s very unfortunate and personnel decisions are the toughest that a board of education has to make,” R-9 Board of Education President Dr. John Holcomb said. “It’s the most painful decision that I have ever had to make in my 13 years as a board member. You offer a contract in good faith, then you have to take it back. It’s difficult to have to do.”
The changes at the elementary school now mean that there will be four sections of kindergarten, second, third and fourth grades while there will be three sections of first grade. Teaching assignments include Susan Provance, Debbie Young, Lynn Griffin and Bev Speck, kindergartgen; Mary Ellen Johnsonn, Marcia Gutshall and Wenda Seymour, first grade; Kim Bain, Renee Hull, Connie Gates and Babe Roy, second grade; Julie Simpson, Carolyn Schmidt, Ruby Walker and Jackie Wyant, third grade; and Nancy Lin, Michelle McClintick, Laura McDonald and Robin Wilson, fourth grade.
The board is expected to address the recovery room program at the elementary school during the Aug. 12 board meeting.
Non-certified personnel whose contracts were terminated included Kelli Beavers, Marlene Ralston and Verna Kelsey, paraprofessionals; and Cyndi Johnson, cook. The contract for cook Parthelia Bonnett was extended to a full-time position.
Extra-duty assignments were terminated for Bill Hill, who was to serve as an administrative assistant at the middle school, and E?Lisha Gass, who was to have been an administrative assistant at the high school Both of those individuals remain as teachers in the district.
School officials noted that reorganization will be done in each building to compensate for these position changes.
Dr. Holcomb noted that those teachers who were put on unrequested leave would have a chance to come back to the district if a position opens up for which they are qualified.
“We certainly would want to afford them that opportunity,” Dr. Holcomb said.
The board on Thursday voted to eliminate both the alternative and gifted programs as well as eliminating the career ladder program, which would affect the 2004-2005 school budget. The action taken by the board on Thursday resulted in additional cuts of $278,302 in the 2003-2004 budget. The board also made cuts in March, eliminating some positions and programs, which totaled around $337,876.
Dr. Holcomb said that there was discussion by the board about additional cuts when the board took action in March, but at the time believed the reductions approved would be enough. He noted that state withheld some state funding in July and that because of the uncertainty of state monies in the future, could face the possibility of even more reductions.
“We get our first big payment in November, which is also the time they figure the pro-ratio factor (which is used to determine the state aid the district can expect),” Dr. Holcomb said. “Hopefully we won’t have any reductions, but the way things have been going, there’s no guarantee.”
Dr. Holcomb went on to say that without making the most recent cuts, the board could have been looking at a near-zero operational fund balance at the end of the school year. When the budget was approved in June, the board had anticipated ending the 2003-2004 school year with a fund balance of $880,870.98, which included all funding sources, not just the operational budget. Superintendent Craig Noah was out of town and exact operational budget projections were not available. Dr. Holcomb did say the cuts puts the R-9 District budget in balance, if there are no more cuts in state and/or federal aid.
Although no formal discussions have been held concerning ways of getting additional funding for the district, the waiver of the district’s Proposition C tax rollback is an option. The district had a 67-cent rollback on its levy last year, with the district setting the 2002-2003 levy at $2.75 on the $100 assessed valuation. This is the minimum rate the district can set under state law and does not include the separate debt service that is assessed for payment of the new middle school construction and construction and renovation work at the elementary school, which was 96 cents this past year.
Dr. Holcomb said the board could address the Proposition C rollback waiver at some point, but has no plans to do so in the immediate future.
“It is certainly something to talk about,” he said.