School Board makes $640,000 in budget cuts

Motion to phase out French is turned down by Board on 3-2 vote

The Clear Lake School Board took action Thursday on $640,048 in proposed budget cuts for the next school year.  After hearing comments from students and parents, the Board ultimately decided to keep positions intact in the foreign language and vocal music programs. 

The district’s administrative team recommended no reduction in staff, however the phasing out of the French program was debated.  On a 3-2 vote, the Board chose to continue the language program.  It was noted that with 44 eighth graders signed up for French next school year, Clear Lake will no longer be able to share French teacher Sara Gutierrez with the Mason City School District.  The loss of sharing will result in a $39,000 loss to the district.  

Board members Mark Tesar, Jill Wilhelm and Jon Loge voted in favor of keeping French, with Tesar saying that offering the language differentiates Clear Lake from other surrounding districts.  “Keeping the program is better than not,” he said.  

Chryl Bergvig and Chad Kuhlers voted against the measure.  

The board unanimously agreed to discontinue the use of Kelly Education Staffing Services (KESS) next year.  The Board had been tracking the cost and substitute fill rate success of KESS throughout the school year and had been showing the district could save significant dollars by handling substitute recruitment itself.  Despite a presentation by KESS officials and knowledge some funds will need to be spent to conduct background and drug tests on potential substitutes, as well as pay personnel to schedule substitutes, the Board voted 5-0 to drop KESS, saving approximately $25,000.

Additional services cuts included Gallagher Benefits consultant fees, Aramark Uniform Service, discontinuation of high school planners and reduction in building supplies by 10 percent.

Earlier this month the Board extended its early retirement incentive package and Thursday the Board accepted the resignation of high school social studies teacher Beth Ann Schumacher.  She will retire at the end of the school year after 31-years with the district.

The Board also discussed adding positions, as proposed by Superintendent Anita Micich.  

She recommended hiring a kindergarten teacher, first grade teacher, increasing a middle school vocal teacher from half-time to full-time and keeping an eighth-grade teacher who is currently on a one-year contract due to a leave of absence. The teacher on the leave of absence is returning at half-time next year.  The vocal teacher would take on additional students at Clear Creek Elementary School, which currently has one vocal teacher for over 700 students, and the eighth grade teacher would provide reading support for grades sixth through eighth, she said.  The total cost for adding all four positions would be about $145,243.

Both the kindergarten and first grade teachers were requested due to increasing enrollment in those two grades.  The current kindergarten class - Read More Via e-Edition