Tecumseh schools eliminates 3 staff positions

The Tecumseh Local School District has reduced their staff employees after the school board approved the reduction of three employees.

The first position eliminated was a latchkey monitor at New Carlisle Elementary School. The district still has two latchkey programs at the other elementary schools - Park Layne and Donnelsville - which both have over 50 students enrolled.

“Last school year, we piloted a third Latchkey Program at New Carlisle Elementary School in conjunction with a reconfiguration of grades at our elementary buildings. We had very low enrollment (less than 20) students attend the Latchkey Program at NCES this past year. Thus, we have eliminated the pilot Latchkey Program at this location, as it was not financially self-sustaining,” Superintendent Paula Crew said.

Crew said students who attended New Carlisle Elementary School this year will be offered busing at Park Layne Elementary School next year if they still want to participate in the latchkey program.

The second position to be eliminated was a resource center clerk/secretary.

“We restructured the Resource Center personnel to better serve our technology needs. Specifically, we eliminated one position and we are creating a technology technician position. This will provide us with an additional technician to maintain our technology devices, especially since we transitioned to a one-to-one student/device ration this past year,” Crew said.

A sign language interpreter was the third position to be eliminated.

“We have opted to contract for these services instead of hiring an independent interpreter. Contracting for the services will provide more consistency and resources from our district and specifically for our students in need of hearing interpreting services,” Crew said.

The district is expected to save more than $450,000 over the next two school years and anticipates saving more than $2.2 million over the course of its five-year forecast, Crew said earlier this year.

Those savings are a combination of salaries that would have been paid for positions that have been eliminated as well as the elimination of an at-risk-student program.

The district has saved a total of $458,540 over the last two school years, and expects a total savings of $2,292,700 through 2025.

During the 2019-20 school year, the district had a total annual savings of $119,540, which is a five-year savings through 2024 of $597,700. During the 2020-21 school year, the district had a total annual savings of $339,000, which is a five-year savings through 2025 of $1,695,000.

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