From the Monitor:
http://www.trivalleycentral.com/breaking_news/doc4bb4f8ffe5047237825096.txtThe Maricopa Unified School District will vote tonight on a measure that could lead to the closure of Maricopa Wells Middle School and the reduction in force 89 certified staff members.
During a lengthy meeting of an AD Hoc budget committee last night, district business services director Aron Rausch said the district will need to trim at least $4.3 million from its budget, and could need to remove a total of $7.3 million if the 1 percent sales tax increase does not pass in March.
District human resources director Tom Beckett outlined his suggested cuts that would cover both levels of cuts.
His largest-scale suggestion was to repurpose Wells by having each elementary school offer kindergarten through sixth grade and moving all seventh and eighth grade students to Desert Wind Middle School if the sales tax does not pass.
The move would make reduce in force 24 teachers from both middle schools, although superintendent Jeff Kleck said the move could force the district to give RIF notices to every middle school teacher, with the ability to bring some back once the district knows how many it can afford to keep.
Wells was chosen after the district personnel discussed the ramifications of closing an elementary school, Kleck said, and because the school is in corrective action, and could see half the staff replaced by the state if the school does not pass Adequate Yearly Progress this year.
“It becomes difficult to keep the school in corrective action and close the school (Desert Wind) that’s performing,” he said.
If repurposed, the school could be used to house emotionally disabled private placement students, which would save the district additional money by allowing them to place those students within the district. Alternatively the district could rent the space to an online or charter school.
Renting out the school to Central Arizona College and the City of Maricopa were mentioned as well.
The move would save the district approximately $1.1 million.
Although the sales tax vote is not until May, Kleck said the district must give notifications to the teachers that would have their school closed by April 15.
Beckett had the repurposing of Wells toward the bottom of his priority list, although the advisory committee voted, nearly unanimously, to recommend the board repurpose the school and move it up on the list.
The other major move Beckett suggested was the elimination of approximately 89 certified staff members and positions, among them assistant to the superintendent Burnie Hibbard and volunteer coordinator Margaret Jackson, as well as the assistant principals at each elementary school.
It also includes a reduction of 35 teachers, 14 of which at this point would be unwilling reductions, and the other 21 would be through attrition.
The committee, chaired by former City community services director Marty McDonald, voted to recommend the cuts to the board, which the Governing Board will vote on tonight.
The reductions account for approximately 20 percent of the district’s classified staff and does not account for the potential RIFs of every middle school teacher.
“I personally feel for all these teachers in the district right now,” McDonald said.
The meeting is tonight at the district office, located at 44150 W. Maricopa-Casa Grande Highway, at 6 p.m.
