The good news came in expected cost savings when 37 Clarkston school teachers, two administrators and 15 support personnel accepted a severance buyout package.
The challenge will be in filling at least some of those positions.
Linda Nester, executive director for personnel and auxiliary services, told the board of education April 26 of plans to fill at least 30 of the teacher positions.
Administrators recently visited job fairs at Western Michigan, Central Michigan and Michigan State universities, reporting about 750 applications from soon-to-be-graduates at those events.
Nester said the district will take a ‘fast track? approach to fill the positions, working quickly to narrow the field in hopes having people hired by early June.
‘Our district motto has always been to be very aggressive during the teacher recruiting time,? Nester said. ‘We want to hire early so we can hire the best teachers for our district.?
There are some ‘difficult? positions to fill, including a guidance counselor, three media specialists and a band-orchestra teacher.
‘All of these positions will require an experienced teacher, and we don’t see a lot of those at the job fairs,? Nester said.
The district must also replace a teacher of German and business-technology related mathematics.
‘Those may be difficult to find, because there are not a lot of graduates in that area,? she said.
There are some candidates, however, and the district has posted the openings in other areas in hopes of finding experienced applicants.
The administrators slated to leave include John Diliegghio, executive director of middle and high school education, and Mike Krystyniak, principal of Sashabaw Middle School. Nester said Krystyniak’s departure will lead the administration to accelerate a planned move, sending Clarkston Middle School principal Linda Foran to Sashabaw Middle School, which is slated to become a sixth-seventh grade building in the fall of 2005.
‘She can begin to help us oversee the construction process and begin the transition to the 6-7 configuration,? Nester said, with a search underway for a principal for Clarkston Middle School, which will become home for eighth and ninth graders.
Support staff openings include six bus drivers, two building secretaries and two kitchen managers.
Because new employees will begin at the lower end of the pay scale, administrators originally estimated a savings of at least $500,000 by offering the severance package.