[EVSD News] Superintendent's Newsletter 05.13.09

[Jodi Brown]

May 13, 2009
 
The purpose of this newsletter is to update you on events that are happening in the district, provide information to address issues or rumors and provide you a forum to communicate with me on items of interest. If you are receiving this e-mail you are either an East Valley Staff member, you have signed up for this service, you have sent me an e-mail or have had some form of contact that we think would cause you to want this information. If you do not want to continue to receive this information you may unsubscribe by clicking the link below or contacting the district office.  
                                    
Last night the board undertook the difficult action of moving forward to enact program changes to reflect our anticipated budget shortfall.   
 
To recap:  We are expecting a reduction in funding of $1.5 million. This number continues to be a moving target but is based on the best information we have at this time.  We must leave all options for reductions to the district operating budget open, including teacher lay-offs.   
 
To legally non-renew the contract for a teacher we must notify the teacher of that lay-off before May 15th.   If we fail to make that notification we are obligated to a contract with that teacher for the following school year.  Even if we do not have funding or students.  
 
The lay-off process is complex and rigidly defined.   It begins with a notification of probable non-renewal.  To meet our contractual obligation we delivered 62 of these notices before the first day of May.  We had to deliver many more notices than we expected to act upon to comply with the process outlined in our negotiated agreement. 
 
Tomorrow, 31 of those 62 teachers will get notice of a reduction in force.  They will be laid off at the end of the school contract year.  We have identified 22 unfunded teaching positions.   We have identified funding, through cuts to the central office and other programs, to cover 11 of those positions.  This leaves us with a funding shortfall of about $800,000.   
 
Next week the Board will hold a series of community meetings to gather input on how to address these funding shortfalls.   All ideas and suggestions are welcome.   If you cannot attend one of the meetings I encourage you to send your ideas to me.  The meetings will be held in the board room at the administration office on: 
 
Tuesday, May 19, 2009- 12:00noon
Tuesday, May 19, 2009- 7:00 pm
Wednesday, May 20, 2009- 7:00 am
Wednesday, May 20, 2009- 7:00 pm
 
 
In other news:  I want to thank the staff and community at East Farms for undertaking the very difficult job of interviewing and recommending principal candidates.   We received 43 completed applications for the position.   The top six candidates were interviewed and the committee, in the end recommended two to me for consideration.
 
It was an extremely difficult choice and after much deliberation we offered the position to Mr. Frank Brou of Port Townsend, WA.  Mr. Brou is currently an elementary principal in Port Townsend.  Port Townsend is suffering from declining enrollment and Frank's building will be closed at the end of the school year.  Frank's decision to remain in an elementary school setting and not at the district office prompted his application for our principal position.   
 
We are excited that Frank and his family will be joining us.  We will hold a reception for him prior to the end of the school year.    
 
I welcome your input on these or any other issues. As always please do not hesitate to call or contact me with ideas, suggestions or concerns. I really mean it.  You can call me at the district office at 924-1830 or at home 928-0519.  You may also contact me via e-mail GlenewinkelJ at evsd.org.  
 
John
 
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