BUCYRUS — Staffing and finances were focal points of discussion for the Bucyrus City Schools Board of Education and other leadership during the July board meeting Thursday evening.
Bucyrus Superintendent Matt Chrispin and treasurer Ryan Cook co-led a presentation on where the district stood in the hiring process and why some positions would not be filled and would be absorbed into other positions.
A typed personnel update was provided to those in attendance.
According to the handout, the district faced 24 vacancies created during and since the 2018-19 school year. Including vacancies caused by the district changing which educational service center it will use for services and non-renewing contracts such as media and public relations, the district had 31 vacancies.
Cook said the 24 listed vacancies were higher than the estimated average of 15 per year, but not much higher than the 22 vacancies two years ago.
Chrispin said vacancies, such as speech, occupational therapy, gifted, etc., will be filled through the district’s agreement with North Central Ohio ESC. The positions previously were occupied by employees with Mid-Ohio ESC, which the board of education voted to leave in May.
Of the six administrative, one classified and 17 certified staff positions vacated, Chrispin said five administrative, one classified and 12 certified positions will be filled for the 2019-20 school year. The positions of 9-12 associate principal, technology coordinator and elementary social studies are not yet filled but are in the interview process, Chrispin said.
Many of the positions being absorbed will appear on the middle school staff list. The positions are a middle school social studies teacher, art teacher, science teacher and an intervention specialist. Chrispin said the class sizes and teacher availability at the middle school allowed for the staffing moves at the middle school level.
Also being absorbed are a third grade teaching position and a director of curriculum and instruction administrative position. The director of curriculum responsibilities will be taken over by secondary principal Kim Radulovich and elementary principal Mike Wallace.
The flyer given out at the meeting said the district has lost an average of approximately 30 students per year, which Cook said is a revenue loss of approximately $180,000 per year in state funding. He said the district will enter deficit spending in 2019-20 if changes are not made. In a PowerPoint presentation, Cook said the district is overstaffed compared to peer (other schools in the local area) and similar (other Ohio schools with similar demographics) districts.
According to the financial report approved by the board at Thursday’s meeting, district salaries accounted for 42 percent ($7,330225.62) of the district’s total expenditures for fiscal year 2019 ($17,437,785.10), and employee fringe benefits account for 20 percent ($3,455,966.89) of the total expenses.
Chrispin said it was a goal of the board to avoid asking taxpayers for more money and said it’s better to cut positions for cost savings that employees voluntarily left.
“That’s awful. Nobody wants to do that,” Chrispin said.
The cuts will mean additional workloads for other remaining employees, but Chrispin does not think it’s anything the staff cannot handle. The information flyer said the average third-grade class size will increase from 17 students to 21 per class.
It also said the secondary school intervention specialists (special education teachers) will be repurposed and will have more students on their individual caseloads. The flyer adds, despite the increase in caseload, there still is room for students who move into the district or are identified during the school year.
Chrispin said the middle school had two intervention specialists per grade and the high school had one per department. According to the Ohio Department of Education, in the 2017-18 district profile approximately 23.5 percent of the Bucyrus City School District students were identified as students with disabilities, as compared to the state average of 14.8 percent.
Chrispin said he is unable to give specifics on the changes to total teacher workloads until all hires are finalized and the master schedules for the year are completed.
He added the absorption of an art teacher negatively impacted two high school students based on course selections made in the spring.
After the information was presented, Shelli Ashley, the mother of a 2017 Bucyrus High School graduate and two Bucyrus Middle School students, addressed the board and gave her concerns about the recent staff turnover, but said her concern came out of respect she and her children have for the staff at BCS.
Ashley said she is a teacher at another Crawford County district, but her children wanted to remain at Bucyrus when she accepted her current position because of their positive experiences with the teachers.
She said her concerns are that opportunities her oldest child had may not be there for her younger children.
“Losing these teachers was a hard hit,” Ashley said. “(Bucyrus’) teachers are awesome. They need to be treated like that.”
Board of Education Vice President John Kime said the reasoning for why so many staff members left is something the board will have to look in to.
“We do care about why people leave, and we want to use that as a chance to be better,” Kime said.
Exit interviews were conducted with staff leaving the district after the 2017-18 year but were not after the most recent school year. Chrispin said many of the departing employees did indicate why they left the district in their resignation letters.
He said his plans include speaking with remaining staff members and union leaders about what they would like to see with the district.
Chrispin said he is giving the staff a packet for the upcoming school year and in it is a “Get to know you” form. It includes questions of what the employee is most proud of in the district and if they could change anything, what would it be.
“I’m the new guy,” Chrispin said. “So, I’m interested in what folks are excited about and what they’re proud of. I’m anxious to learn what we need to get better at.”
Other financial decisions made during the meeting included a change to the daily rate for substitute teacher pay. The board voted to raise the daily rate from $80 per day to $100.
Board of Education President Dr. Paul Johnson said it is difficult for schools to find substitutes, especially highly qualified substitutes and the district needs to do what it can to try to win that battle with neighboring schools.
The board also approved an amendment to Cook’s salary for the next two years. Cook will be paid $110,000 for the 2019-20 school year and $113,000 for 2020-21. Cook’s contract will then expire pending an extension in the meantime.
Board members Adam Stone and Deb Hoover were not in attendance for the meeting.
The next meeting is Aug. 22 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Administrative Building on Plymouth Street.