SULLIVAN — The board of directors of the Southwest School Corp. of Sullivan County voted Thursday to approve preliminary job termination notices for several teachers, coaches and others.
The preliminary notices are required by the school corporation’s contract with the teachers, school officials said.
While the board voted to provide the notifications, hope remains that some of the positions will not be cut, school board officials said. As of yet, the school corporation is operating without an official budget from the state, so it’s not known how much money the corporation will ultimately have. Some educators may also retire before the cuts have to be made, which would free up funding to retain some of the positions, officials said.
“It’s still up in the air,” said superintendent Walter Hoke after the board’s special meeting in the school corporation building in Sullivan. “We’re hoping for the best.”
Nevertheless, due to anticipated budget cuts, a number of reduction-in-force (RIF) notices were approved by the board Thursday evening.
“We met with the principals [Wednesday] and had a long discussion on areas that we felt would have less effect on students,” Hoke said during the meeting. “All of this has an effect on students and no one, the board, administration or teachers, likes it. But, because of funding, it’s something that we have to look at.”
The positions selected for the RIF notices include an agriculture position at Sullivan High School, the dean’s position at Sullivan High School, an elementary art position at Sullivan Elementary School, a single industrial technology position shared by two county middle schools, a kindergarten position at Sullivan Elementary School and the high school’s library aide position.
The board also decided to end full-day kindergarten, but offer an additional half-day program and the $1,000 annual cost for a full-day program. The board also voted to approve a halt in funding for several extracurricular positions, including many athletic coaching positions and clubs.
“Those are the ideas that the principals brought forward,” Hoke said. In total, the cuts — if all take place — would save $581,000, officials said.
Last year, the board voted to give RIF notices to three positions but eventually the positions were all funded, said board member Jerry Wilson. “Before the year was done, we hired all three of them back,” he said.
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