LIVERMORE FALLS – A new administrative team structure adopted by SAD 36 Thursday will put more money in the classrooms where it belongs, district officials say.
The new structure eliminates an elementary school assistant principal position and reduces the number of administrators in the district from five to four, said SAD 36 Superintendent Terry Despres said.
It also brings the district closer to lining up with the state’s Essential Programs and Services funding formula. That formula indicates a district the size of SAD 36, with about 1,040 students, should have 3.5 administrators.
The district has been working for two years to align itself with that state formula, Despres has said. The structure will cost about $90,000 less than the existing administrative team and support staff. Salaries for the superintendent and the transportation director will be shared with Winthrop School Department. The district is regionalizing some services with Winthrop’s.
A clear job description will be developed for each member of the new administrative team structure. Everyone in the district will have a job, Despres said.
The existing structure has a principal and assistant principal at the high school, a middle school principal, and a principal and assistant principal at the elementary school.
Under the new structure, there will be principals at the elementary, middle and high school and an exceptional education director, which is a stipend position.
There will also be a half-time sixth-grade through twelfth-grade principal who would also be a half-time kindergarten through 12 activity director.
Livermore Elementary School Principal Terrie Roberts has resigned effective May 27 to take a job in Florida. Assistant Principal Jeannine Backus has been appointed interim principal after that date to finish out the school year. That leaves one administrator at the elementary school level.
High School Principal Roderick Wright said Saturday he thinks the new structure is “very workable.”
“It’s really not going to change the coverage,” Wright said referring to the high school. The assistant principal would be working where the needs are, he said.
Enlarging the assistant high school principal position to include the middle school, he said, will enable the middle school principal to do educational observations and other required tasks. It allows flexibility at the middle school, Wright said.
The high school assistant principal is currently co-teaching two peer-helper classes, which are two 80-minute blocks of time. The high school already was moving to one peer-helper class next year, Wright said.
The new structure will allow the district to work within the school board’s goals and within the money available, while putting teachers in the classroom where needed, Wright said
Ideally, it would be good to have a full-time assistant principal at the high school and the middle school, Wright said, but the funds are not available.
The efficiencies in the new structure, he said, will allow the high school to add a half-time English teacher and half-time social studies teacher for students.
Wright said the students come first.
“I need teachers in my classrooms,” he said.
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