SEQUIM — The number of laid-off teachers in the Sequim School District has been reduced to a handful, thanks to smaller-than-expected cuts in the district’s budget for the 2009-2010 school year.
Yet this Friday, about five certified teachers will receive layoff notices, district Superintendent Bill Bentley said.
During a special meeting Thursday, the Sequim School District Board of Directors voted unanimously to authorize Bentley to make what’s called a reduction in force.
The move will mean the release of a Sequim High School social studies teacher and a Sequim Middle School math teacher, cuts in hours for art instruction at the high school and in science and music instruction for grades 6 through 8.
The savings to the district: $180,000.
Sequim’s original budget-cutting plan was more brutal, calling for layoffs of at least six more teachers in the art, math, social studies, music, science and language arts departments at the high and middle schools, plus the loss of a half-time counselor.
Those jobs were restored thanks to the state Legislature’s $35 billion budget passed last week.
More than expected
Though not yet signed by Gov. Christine Gregoire, the budget provides some $500,000 more than expected to Sequim’s five campuses.
“This is a positive event,” Bentley said. “But we’re still dealing with a $1.3 million or $1.4 million reduction,” in the school district’s budget, which this year totals $25.1 million.
That reduction “is programs and people,” he said, “and it will significantly impact what we’re able to do” in Sequim classrooms.
Come summer, the school board will wrestle with a long list of other cuts in jobs and school activities.
Other cuts
On Bentley’s list of recommendations are removal of the school safety police officer, which will save the district $40,000; keeping two librarians for the whole district instead of four to save $120,000; and eliminating the sole school nurse to save $50,000.
A pay-to-play program, in which student athletes must come up with $75 to play on a team, is also on the list. It would save the district $40,000.
The recommendations, called the “modified education program,” are listed on the district Web site, www.Sequim.k12.wa.us.
The school board, in authorizing the reduction in force, also adopted the education program with the rest of the recommended cuts.
Board member Walt Johnson, however, was reluctant to commit to the whole list.
He called attention to the First Teacher program for preschoolers and their parents, asking why the board had to eliminate it so long before it finalizes the district’s 2009-2010 budget in late summer.
Board member Virginia O’Neil also said she feels strongly about the value of First Teacher, which for $42,000 per year provides weekly activities, a lending library and an educational newsletter for families across the Sequim district.
Bentley assured the members that they will have the next few months to continue scrutinizing the recommended cuts, and that unlike the reduction in force, they aren’t binding until the final district budget is adopted on or before Aug. 31.
By that time, Bentley added, a few of the laid-off teachers might be reinstated.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at diane.urbani@peninsuladaily news.com.
