Royall may downscale its English department

By SARAH PARKER | County Line Reporter

Facing a potential $90,000 cut in state aid next year, the Royall Board of Education is considering reducing a high school English teacher position from full to part time.

At present, the high school has two English teachers: Kathy Michelson and Dave Armstrong. Last week, district administration gave each teacher the option to voluntarily accept a part-time position. So far, neither teacher has done so, according to Superintendent Mark Gruen.

If neither Michelson nor Armstrong takes a part-time position of his or her own accord, then the personnel committee will decide which of the two will be offered a part-time contract.

If that person rejects the part-time contract, then he or she will be issued a nonrenewal notice, according to Gruen.

A staff reduction would not change the number of classes the school offers, he added. Rather, English class sizes would increase, potentially to 20–30.

Board member Tom Trepes registered his reluctance to approve the approval, citing the board’s recent decision to start a new cross-country program next fall.

“It’s bugged me ever since,” he said. “I was against it … We could have saved that money.”

“I love sports,” Trepes added. “But I got grandkids here, and their education is far more important to me than sports.”

He suggested the new cross-country program could cost as much as $10,000.

In response, board member Ryan McKittrick suggested he supported the measure, contending that the change would not detract from the quality of education, as the same classes still would be offered.

“How do you know it’s not going to work out?” he asked Trepes.

Though she conceded that “money was tight,” Lynette Vlasak of Kendall also was critical of the proposal, saying that cutting staff would “weaken the school,” plus it could be more difficult to fill a full-time position, she added.

“Do whatever you can not to decrease the staff any more,” she said.

Last September, the district announced that its fund balance had increased from $768,020 to $1,104,266 (a district’s fund balance represents assets minus liabilities). Vlasak suggested that the fund balance could reduced to help fund the English position.

A greater fund balance allows the district to do less short-term borrowing and therefore pay less in interest.

Also conceding that she understood finances were tight, Chris Brown of Elroy suggested that English classes already may too large and instructors may have too little time to spend with each student.

In recent years, Royall has cut its art, math and science departments, plus it has eliminated the Family and Consumer Education program.

Additionally, the district has cut three aides and one secretary in the past three years, Gruen said.

“We don’t have a lot of cuts to make at Royall, we really don’t,” Gruen said. “When looking at the entire district and looking at what we could cut and would affect the kids the least, this one comes to the top.”

Declining enrollment also is a factor in the move. In an interview with the County Line on Tuesday, Gruen said, “We tried to keep two English teachers for as long as we could.”

He added that the district could not cut at the elementary school, as the school would then lose state Student Achievement Guarantee in Education (SAGE) funding, which school districts receive for keeping class sizes small in kindergarten through third grade.

The board will take up the matter again at its April meeting.

Other business

• Ruth Witt will serve as the new high school secretary, replacing Kristin Graves, who had submitted her resignation. At present, Witt is the district’s federal Physical Education Program coordinator and will do both jobs until the grant runs out next summer.

She will be paid $14.75 per hour.

• The board accepted art teacher Dane Trodahl’s retirement. He has taught in the district for 35 years.

• Gruen noted that the district was applying for a federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, which would provide an afterschool program.

• The board agreed to forgive two snow days for students and one snow day for staff.

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