The Falcon Flyer

Several staff members and numerous students were affected as a result of the staff reductions that occurred earlier this month.

The results of these reductions came into effect on Oct. 4. Math teacher Patty Poulson voluntarily transferred to Kentridge and her classes were divided among other teachers. Kelli Kelsch and Ginger Milam both teach six classes and do not have a plan period. Matthew Sturtevant took on Kelsch’s period five class and had to take the time to alter certain things. “I spent a good deal of time working to make sure that the grades that came across for my new students were compatible with the grading system I was using,” said Sturtevant.

In addition to grade adjustments, Sturtevant also had to take a few days to get his new students caught up with his other students. “Unfortunately, this will come at the expense of time that would have originally been spent reviewing for Finals at the end of the semester,” said Sturtevant. Linda Yanik and Barbara Anderson also had changes in their classes.

Although the math department had the most changes, it was not the only department that was affected. The Special Education department also went through some minor changes. Brad Roden was the only special education teacher who was affected by the staff reductions. “I now leave KL by noon, and go to an elementary school in the district. I then work at the elementary school, and now get off at around 4pm,” said Roden.

For the most part, the teachers affected by the reductions are more frustrated than anything, which is understandable considering past issues with over-staffing. “Kentlake has a history of making poor predictions on staffing and we’ve had to endure some significant re-staffing issues for several years in a row,” said Sturtevant. A major concern for teachers is class size. Some of the math classes now have 30 or more students. I wish our classes could be a little smaller; I like to have more one to one time with students,” said Milam.

Even though everybody worked to lessen the impacts of the reductions, it does not hide the fact that many people were inconvenienced. “We do the best to minimize the impact on students, but there is no getting around that this is a disruptive occasion each and every time it happens,” said Sturtevant.

Every year there is a possibility of staff changes in all the Kent schools because each year on Oct. 1 the Kent School District reexamines the ratio of staff and students. This year Kentlake’s actual number of students did not match the projected enrollment. “Every October, the district does a rebalancing of staff and students and unfortunately Kentlake was one of the schools that had too few students show up and [Kent-Meridian] and Kentridge had too many so they had to take teaching staff from our school to go to the other schools,” said Principal Dr. Joe Potts.

School staffing works on a point system where each class that an instructor teaches represents .2 of a point, and five classes add up to 1.0. These are referred to as Full Time Equivalencies or FTEs. FTEs and the number of students are used to determine how many staff members a school should have. “What occurs is that you take the total number of FTE and the total number of students and then you generate a ratio that is acceptable and that’s how a building is staffed,” said Potts.

Overstaffed by nearly 4.0, the district office initially wanted the school to cut four teachers. However, through meetings and negotiations, the administration was able to prevent such changes. “We worked with departments and curricular leaders and we came up with a variety of scenarios and presented those to the [district office] and then they calculated and came back to us with the bottom line which for us was a .4 reduction in special education and a .6 reduction in mathematics,” said Potts.

Several different factors influenced the five scenarios that were sent to the district office for consideration. “We based those scenarios on our school performance in terms of annual yearly progress, [and] class size and so we gave the district five different options and then in the end it’s the superintendent or his designee who chooses or accepts our recommendations and makes the call,” said Potts.

Despite the inconvenience of staff reductions, Potts feels certain that the best possible outcome was achieved. “It’s too bad that we had to have the staff reduction, it’s not good for a school in any way but these things happen…[and] we made this into a scenario that worked out all right for our schools, our teachers and our kids,” said Potts.

Potts also appreciated how well the district office cooperated. According to Potts, the district office was considerate of the school’s needs and did their best to do the least amount of damage possible. “They were very gracious to us in terms of the cuts this time and…although they didn’t give us a complete pass, they minimized the disturbance and for that we should be thankful,” said Potts.

Contact reporter – yasmin.abubakar@thefalconflyer.com