45 employees of District 205 have been cut, following yesterday’s annual reduction in force.
School board members approved the honorable dismissal of 36 full and part-time special education employees.
Superintendent Bart Arthur says the majority of cuts were due to the decentralization of the Knox Warren Special Education District–a co-operative of seven districts that allow special-ed teachers to provide education throughout the two counties.
Arthur tells WGIL that although cuts were made, many of the teachers have taken other jobs in their respective districts.
“It’s frustrating due to the cut in state aid, but the reality is that because of decentralization, a lot of those people ended up taking jobs in their own district,” says Arthur. ” There was a serious cut, but a lot of them will be re-hired based on positions available–it’s just that the outside districts wanted to have more control of their cross-categorical personnel and so that’s one of the reasons that we did this.”
Arthur says he’s sure the district will hire back, however, the change in school board and superintendent positions will need to be included in staffing decisions. Arthur says realistically, the cuts were minor in terms of what the district could face if state funding does not come in.
The board also elected to cut four part-time support staff positions which included two coaches. The final bid approval for Silas Willard Elementary School was also approved at a cost of around $491,000.
