County school leaders have received sharp criticism for proposed staff cuts designed to save the system $1.7 million per year. Addressing the fault-finders, Superintendent of Limestone County Schools Dr. Tom Sisk said the district will make every effort to place laid-off school employees into positions vacated through attrition.

On Thursday, board members approved the termination of 29 certified teachers and 15 classified employees, with board member Earl Glaze abstaining. Five classified employees retired, and nine resigned.

“We expect the overwhelming majority of non-renewals to be handled (rehired) through attrition,” Sisk said. “Some will come back; we just don’t know which ones yet.”

“What’s cut today won’t be cut in August,” he added.

According to Tommy Hunter, executive director of human resources and operations, 17 locally funded teacher units will be eliminated. The number of attrited positions that will be available to pink-slipped employees by the start of the 2018-2019 school year is unknown, as the board will be accepting resignation and retirement requests throughout the summer.

“That’s the norm,” Sisk said. “You have about 10 percent turnover nationally. Based on that, we expect about 60 employees to retire or resign this year.”

Not all of the positions vacated through attrition will match up with the individuals who were laid off. For example, a history teacher would not be qualified to fill a vacated math teacher position.

Sisk said it is a “complicated process” to refill available positions, and some of those terminated would not be asked back. However, he doesn’t want people to think it’s all about the money.

“If we look at our classroom sizes, none of our classes are going to have 30 kids in a class, but we do have a few that will have 27 or 28, which is more than we are used to,” Sisk said. “We’ve been blessed with classroom sizes with 19, 20 or 21 students in the past because of our locally funded units.”

The $1.7 million saved by the cuts will go toward restoring the system’s depleted fund balance. Sisk said he expects it will take the district three to five years to restore the balance to the one month’s worth of operating expenses required by state law.

When the cuts are all said and done, Sisk said all county schools will still have locally funded teacher units, just not as many as before.

As for the elimination of the sixth grade art program that led to the cutting of an art and music teacher, Sisk said art was eliminated because the state does not fund or require the elective after the fifth grade.

Despite previous reports that five central office positions would be eliminated, the May 24 agenda showed the only central office employee let go was an information technology facilitator. Even though ITFs are certified teachers, they are considered part of the central office because they often move between schools.

In an email Wednesday, Hunter said three central office positions would be eliminated. Upon further investigation, it appears one of those positions was vacated by Betsy Pitchford, the grant writer who resigned May 18, while the other two positions were vacated by central office secretaries who will be transferred to Tanner and Elkmont high schools.

The lack of cuts at the central office level has frustrated some board members, including Glaze, who said at the April 19 work session meeting that the nine to 11 secretaries who reportedly work at central office is excessive and perhaps cuts should start there.

Principal actions

Supporters of Tanner High School Principal Louis Gordon addressed the board at the beginning of the meeting in the hope of swaying them to renew Gordon’s contract.

Gordon was placed on administrative leave March 12 after a group of Tanner High School employees lodged a list of complaints against him. The district is currently investigating the complaints.

However, the group of supporters was disappointed when it became clear personnel actions regarding county administrators would not be discussed until the next school board meeting on June 5.

“Eleven principal personnel items will be included in the next agenda,” Sisk said.

Gordon’s contract is up June 30. Therefore, the board will have to decide what to do at the June 5 meeting.

In his address to the board, the Rev. Roy Rugless, head of the Resolution & Community Engagement Task Force for Tanner High School, called the campaign against Gordon “a modern-day lynching.”

Rugless said Gordon told him he would be willing to come back and make adjustments for the sake of the students.

“If the teachers don’t want to work with him, transfer them out,” Rugless said.

Diane Steele, executive member of the Limestone County NAACP, also addressed the board, accusing them of most likely violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits programs that receive federal assistance from discriminating against individuals based on their race, color or national origin.

She reminded the board everything they did was a matter of record and encouraged them to have “the courage and audacity” to do the right thing.

Limestone County NAACP President Wilbert Woodruff also asked the board and Sisk to give Gordon a chance to do his job.

“I imagine with the board members, you may have had criticism from people in your district, but they allowed you to do your job,” he said. “They didn’t take to a letter-writing campaign to oust you from your job before you were even allowed to do it.”

Gordon has been suspended while the district investigates a list of complaints lodged against him by a group of Tanner High School employees.