Faced with declining enrollment and a dropping end-of-school-year bank balance, the Dollarway School Board unanimously implemented a reduction-in-force policy Tuesday evening to reduce expenses.
The initial implementation of the school district’s RIF effort means one teacher, four cafeteria workers and five custodial employees will lose their jobs for a savings of some $250,000 in annual personnel costs, based on projections.
Director Gene Stewart questioned why the district board waited to approve a RIF policy with enrollment and the ending balance dropping for six years. He said directors should have addressed the problems sooner.
The decision during the called board meeting came after a one and one-half hour executive session.
Since 2006, Stewart stressed, enrollment has fallen from 2,100-plus students to less than 1,500. Each of the 100-plus students who left the Dollarway district each year represented a loss of $6,140 in state aid annually, he added.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Trimming custodial and cafeteria workers does not address the lower ending balances, Stewart emphasized.
Dollarway Superintendent Bettye Dunn-Wright said the RIF policy does not address additional savings as a result of attrition. She read the names of six teachers who had submitted their retirement notices, effective at the end of the current school year, and five teachers who turned in resignation notices.
Dunn-Wright said at least 10 other district employees are paid under a federal program and could see their contracts terminated if the program is cut.
Robert Morehead, board vice president, defended Dunn-Wright, noting that she has served as superintendent for only the last year of the six cited by Stewart.
The Arkansas Department of Education in a March 14 letter to Dunn-Wright noted the department had determined the declining balance jeopardized the fiscal integrity of the district and created the potential for fiscal distress.
Stewart also questioned the hiring of a district bookkeeper at a $55,000 annual salary, noting the last two employees in the same position were paid $48,000 annually.
Raising the salary for the position by $7,000 when district teachers have not had a raise for several years was not what he had in mind for fiscal responsibility, Stewart said.
Dunn-Wright said the last two bookkeepers resigned and the new employee has both a bachelor’s degree and master of business administration, which means reducing the cost of the support staff.
“We need a competent person handling our affairs,” Morehead emphasized, saying he views the employee as a chief fiscal officer.
The state Department of Education last month took back a $1.8 million school improvement grant initially awarded to Dollarway High School in the fall of 2011 to enhance student learning.
A department spokesman said the Dollarway district was too slow to implement the required changes.
The board discussed the proposed Dollarway Resource Development Center at the old Pinecrest Elementary School on Tuesday, but took no formal action. Morehead said he wanted to resolve several issues first.
James Hartshorn with EFS-Geotechnology briefed the board on three options for redistricting board zones, but no action was taken.