A $2 million shortfall in grant funding has forced a hiring and spending freeze at Lander County School District (LCSD), in addition to canceling most summer programs.
LCSD was notified of the shortfall the day after the last school board meeting on May 24. Superintendent Jim Squib expressed his shock, saying, “We knew it was going to be bad, but we did not know how bad it was.”
The school district entered a hiring freeze immediately. LCSD will not bring in any new employees to replace those lost this past year.
However, the contracts for three newly hired employees will remain intact. Two elementary positions will have to go unfilled until further notice.
The elementary school will be losing two full-time employees (FTE’s), Eleanor Lemaire Junior High will be losing one FTE and Battle Mountain High School will be losing two FTE’s. Austin will lose a half-time employee.
Superintendent Jim Squib said the shortfall would likely affect music at the elementary school level.
Elementary school Principal Laurie Sparks said she may be able to work through the issue by asking the music teacher to move into a general teaching role. Other teachers would be asked to teach music in addition to their regular duties.
Regarding the cutbacks, Squib said, “Probably the one that hurts the most is the CTE (Career and Technical Education) position at the high school. There were plans to make that a full-time position next year, but when that hiring freeze hit, that was one of those jobs that went away.”
LCSD will still offer health occupations but will not be offering welding or fabrication classes next year. Teacher Mark Savage will take on a half-time position at the elementary school and use the other half of the day to teach Spanish at the high school.
Despite the summer cutbacks and hiring freeze, the alternative education program is currently still available to those high school seniors who were short on credits. Squib felt it was important for the program to remain intact. “We had to make a decision because we had seniors who were scheduled to graduate that didn’t quite make it this year and need to finish up. We felt that was a priority over junior high students who were about to enter high school,” he said. All other summer programs were cut.
The district hoped to restore some of these programs in the future, but it may take some time.
