MARION — Public comments made during Monday night’s Eastbrook School Board meeting expressed concern over the possibility of corporation plans to reduce teaching staff.
Marion resident Matt Taylor expressed his frustration to the board over proposed plans for a sports center and how it could affect teachers at Eastbrook. Taylor also noted the corporation has reported a $900,000 deficit for next year.
“They’re going to have to rift teachers, and they want to build an $18 million sports complex,” he told members of the community and then turned to the board. “You guys put this out to the public that you’re willing to fire teachers and still build your sports complex. You guys ought to be ashamed of yourselves if you’re going to get rid of teachers and put sports over teachers. That’s ridiculous.”
Taylor said the corporation should use the money in its “rainy day” account to pay teachers and avoid staff reduction.
“You’ve got $2.7 million in a rainy day fund, so why don’t you move it back and keep your teachers? Let’s educate these kids,” he said.
Superintendent Brett Garrett responded to Taylor’s comments during his report and said the corporation has been working to build up the rainy day fund for “disasters and flooding issues.”
Regarding staff reduction, Garrett said he has taken a “proactive” approach and has started conversations ahead of time about the budget.
“This year, we’re down 40 kiddos. That’s $280,000 as far as state revenue we are not getting that we thought we were going to have,” Garrett said. “So, we have to continually put this puzzle together every year, and I have to be proactive and tell staff that we may have to make some cuts.”
The superintendent further elaborated on his Monday evening comments during a follow-up interview with the Chronicle-Tribune.
“Eastbrook Community Schools assesses the financial condition and needs within their schools to determine if additional staffing or a reduction of staffing is needed,” he explained. “It was recently shared that with our enrollment numbers this year, it might be necessary to assess our staffing needs to see if a reduction in staff was necessary.”
Superintendent Garrett added that this could be accomplished in several ways if needed, including through attrition, resignations, retirements or by a reduction in staff.
However, Garrett said there are “no certain plans for a reduction in our workforce” at this time.
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