By HOLLY WAGNER
Herald-Whig Staff Writer
The Quincy School Board voted unanimously Tuesday night to reclassify Sharon Phillips, who has served as principal at Irving Elementary School for the past two years, and Debbie Niederhauser, services coordinator for the federally funded Head Start program at the Early Childhood and Family Center.
Both are tenured teachers and may choose to return to the classroom, board Vice President Bill Daniels said.
“Both have great track records as teachers,” Daniels said. They “have the right to continue to be employed by the district.”
The reclassifications were not the result of evaluations, he said. The board addressed the changes with the two administrators in advance.
“The funding for (Niederhauser’s) position was eliminated ... and the district’s not going to put the funds in to support that position. We’re closing Irving, and we don’t need a principal there,” Daniels said.
Board President Tom Dickerson was out of town but took part in Tuesday’s special meeting by remote link. The board took no action regarding additional financial cuts after meeting in closed session.
The board announced a week ago that it would be closing Irving School as an attendance center at the end of the year and cutting the equivalent of 30 full-time positions as it attempts to trim the budget by $2.5 million. The board hopes to stem a looming deficit that will grow larger than projected since the board reduced its tort levy and voters rejected an increase in the education fund rate in February.
The staff cuts will come from across the district and include nontenured teachers and classified staff, Superintendent Tom Leahy said earlier this week. Nontenured staff have to be notified about their contract 45 days before the end of the school year, or April 11. Classified staff have to be notified 30 days before the year's end, or April 25, according to Michelle Eberlin, president of the Quincy Federation of Teachers.
“Our largest cost of doing business is people,” Daniels said. “There are things we have to do.”
Niederhauser had taken care of administrative and supervisory duties, ECFC Director Julie Schuckman said.
“We’ve grown over the years, with 700 kids and $2 million in grants. It just needed some more hands to get the job done efficiently. Everybody will step up,” Schuckman said. “But there will still be a void.”
Head Start funding gets tighter every year, Schuckman said.
“We know that at minumum (next year) there will be no increase,” she said. “When you increase salaries and have no increase in funding, you’re already working at a deficit. There’s a chance there could still be cuts in the federal funding.”
Max Miller, assistant principal and athletic director at Quincy High School, and Mike Hayes, principal of Baldwin South, will be retiring at the end of this year. Phillips could apply for either of those positions, Daniels said.
— hwagner@whig.com/221-3374
