District 203 rejects plan to keep extra teachers on staff

The Naperville Unit District 203 school board has rejected a proposal to keep extra art, music and physical education teachers on staff to give classroom teachers additional planning time.

However, there is still a possibility the extra teachers will return in the fall.

In March, the district notified four elementary music, art and physical education teachers and seven assistants in the enrichment program that they might not have jobs next year. Due to declining enrollment, the teachers no longer have a full day of classes to teach and the district is trying to tighten its staffing levels to address budget concerns.

Superintendent Alan Leis said he always intended to bring at least one group back after looking at options.

The district came up with three possibilities - cutting the four teachers, which would save $120,000 to $160,000 but require remaining teachers to travel between schools; cutting the enrichment assistants by 50 percent; or keeping both groups and assigning the art, music and physical education teachers to occasionally relieve classroom teachers to give those teachers extra planning time.

Leis recommended the third option to the board Monday, saying the district had found other cost savings such as in health-care costs, and could try keeping both groups of instructors for a year.

"I felt I got to the place I thought was reasonable to get to without having to take this cut," Leis said. "And I honestly thought that ... you have to focus on doing the best thing instructionally."

In a rare split vote the board rejected his proposal, 4-3.

President Mike Jaensch and board members Susan Crotty, Jim Dennison and Dave Weeks voted against Leis' recommendation while Vice President Jackie Romberg and members Suzyn Price and Terry Fielden were in favor.

Romberg said many teachers have stressed the importance of collaborative planning time and it would be worthwhile to try for a year.

But Crotty said while she likes the idea of extra planning time she is concerned about it being too hard to change the staffing plan down the road.

Weeks added that there could be cheaper options to allow for planning time, such as using substitutes or aides.

After they rejected Leis' plan, some board members indicated a new option may be in order but there was little consensus or clarity as to what that should be.

Leis said he will continue to work on the issue and contact board members individually.

"I need to re-look at this whole thing again and make sure everyone has all their questions and concerns addressed," he said.

The issue will be back on the agenda June 1.