By Carmen McCollum, Times of Northwest Indiana
carmen.mccollum@nwi.com
EAST CHICAGO | The School City of East Chicago board has eliminated 12 administrative positions as it considers restructuring and consolidation of schools.
The district is looking at consolidating West Side and Block junior high schools, Superintendent Michael Harding said Monday.
Harding said because of state law, notification could not wait until a strategic plan is in place.
"The notification process began Dec. 31, and the final notification of nonrenewal of their contracts was Feb. 1," he said.
Once the district has decided on the school restructuring, Harding said the people in those 12 positions may be able to apply for other spots in the district as long as they are qualified to fill them.
While the district has to cut 4.5 percent or $2.2 million this year as a result of $300 million in budget cuts to K-12 education ordered by the governor, Harding said the nonrenewals are not necessarily a cost-saving effort.
An East Chicago school official who attended the School Board meeting Monday asked the board to reconsider one of the names on the list.
East Chicago coach Richard Peterson said he had been asked by students and staff to talk to the board about Monica Maxwell. He said Maxwell, who is the assistant athletic director, is a product of the school system and returned to work in her community.
He also said she was recently named to fill the open minority seat for the northern district on the Indiana High School Athletic Association board of directors.
Although Peterson said Maxwell has "great ties to the state and loves her community," neither the board nor the superintendent made any comments.