Schaumburg District 54 proposes cutting more than 100 positions

Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 would eliminate more than 100 special education, early childhood, administrative and teaching positions — among them 19 nontenured art, music and physical education teachers — under a proposal before the school board this week.

District spokeswoman Terri McHugh said the move is not financial, but rather about scheduling and declining enrollment — down about 1,000 students to 13,680 in the past decade.

“Could there be a fiscal savings when all is said and done? Possibly,” McHugh said. “It's hard to speculate at this point about savings.”

No tenured teacher will be let go under the staffing plan, which will be discussed at the Thursday school board meeting and voted on March 17.

It will not reduce the 60 minutes of weekly instruction students receive in art, music and P.E., McHugh said. Rumors that this is the first step in eliminating fine arts and PE altogether are not accurate, she added.

“Our school board (members) are very strong proponents of students having those opportunities,” McHugh said. “We're not moving in that direction.”

Teachers being let go already have been notified; it's possible some could be hired back, according to the district.

The district's teachers union — the Schaumburg Education Association — intends to continue discussing the proposal all the way through the March 17 vote, SEA President Carmel Cottrell said.

“We don't like to lose any of our full-time teachers, but the economy is not good right now,” Cottrell said. “We're still approaching this. Anytime anyone loses their job, it's very upsetting.”

Though nontenured teachers are at the heart of the proposed cuts, Cottrell said the union takes its commitment to them no less seriously than tenured teachers.

“They're still our members,” she said. “They're who we represent.”

The district currently employs 57 full-time fine arts and PE teachers across its 21 schools. If the staffing plan is approved, 19 nontenured teachers would be laid off and at least 30 certified part-time teachers would be hired in their place for a combined total of 63 part- and full-time fine arts and P.E. teachers.

McHugh said that right now, fine arts and P.E. teachers at smaller schools like Blackwell teach as few as twelve 60-minute classes a week and then travel to different schools.

As a result, it's difficult to get teachers together for planning sessions and students often are taught by different teachers. The change would give each building a dedicated art, music and P.E. teacher.

“This would give us consistency in each building and all administrators better planning,” McHugh said.

School officials don't anticipate a difficult time finding qualified part-time teachers considering more than 4,000 teacher applications are on file.

In an election endorsement interview with the Daily Herald last week, board members Barbara Hengels and William Harper spoke in support of the plan, saying it was driven by educational, not financial, needs.

They said the plan would provide better efficiency and wouldn't, in their opinion, harm the district's relationship with its teachers union.

Among the other cuts are 13 certified classroom teacher positions, all of which will occur through retirements. Despite the change, the average classroom size districtwide will remain 23 students, officials say.

Three special education teacher positions and four administrative positions also will be eliminated through attrition and reassignments.

In the early childhood program, the district will reduce 15 teaching positions, 17 instruction assistants and six child and family educator positions.

“This is due to the uncertainty of state funding in this area,” McHugh said.

In bilingual education, nine bilingual assistant positions will be cut, but 8.5 bilingual resource teachers will take their place in a restructuring move that keeps English Language Learners at their neighborhood schools.

Finally, 39 special education assistant position will be cut due to a decrease in special education students, McHugh said.

The board meeting begins at 7 p.m. Thursday at the district office, 524 E. Schaumburg Road, Schaumburg.