SCHOOL DISTRICT PLANS TO LAY OFF 74
The proposed cuts include 50 teaching assistants and 24 food-service employees
School district trustees are being asked to lay off 50 teaching assistants and 24 food-service employees to make up for about $500,000 of $4.53 million in state aid cuts being made under COVID-19 reductions.
The reduction of part-time positions is scheduled to be discussed at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday during a special Board of Education meeting that will be conducted online.
“This is being done because of the expectation of the 20 percent loss in state aid,” Superintendent Kirk Reinhardt said.
The reductions represent 83 percent of the district’s 29 foodservice employees and 42 percent of the 119 teaching assistants.
“Right now we’re not serving food, there’s no one in the cafeteria, and we’re pretty much just doing grab-and-go remotely,” Reinhardt said.
Reinhard noted that the reduction of teaching assistants is not expected to impact students in individual education programs.
“A person who was let go who was in that situation would be replaced by another person that we’re keeping,” Reinhardt said.
Reinhard noted that additional aid reductions could possibly include $700,000 for STAR payments, $5,791 for school lunch support, $240,000 for extended school year programs, and $358,655 for pre-kindergarten.
Current district budget reductions have included $1.13 million in salaries and benefit for programs paid through federal grants and $950,000 through reductions in insurance premiums.
Other reductions that could be made if the budget gap gets worse include equipment purchases at $50,000; kindergarten at $712,784; extracurricular activities, including transportation, at $719,008; security, including school resource officers, at $100,000; professional development at $107,465; monitors plus substitute costs at $507,000; and elementary school art, music, and librarians at $575,275.
The district has been conducting classes online since opening last week and has targeted Oct. 5 to have students return to schools for half of the sessions. Reinhard said elementary students will have lunches in their classes while use of the high school cafeteria will not require full staffing.