District 197 Chalk Talk: Cabinet Positions Filled, Enrollment May Be Up

When former Superintendent , so did the district's directors for both , which encompassed operations as well as finance.

Shortly after, a human resources assistant left for South St. Paul.

The district is taking advantage of these departures to create some additional cost savings.

Brian Schultz was promoted Wednesday to finance director from his position as assistant business director. The assistant position will be kept open, and operational duties will be shifted to a new role—director of operations. That position will be filled by the former Chief Operations Officer, Mark Fortman. The chief operations officer position will be eliminated.

Linda Goers was approved Wednesday to fill the director of human resources position. The assistant human resources position will not be filled for now.

While Interim Superintendent Tom Nelson said that the vacancies could be reevaluated moving forward, the reorganization is expected to create a savings of $100,000 for the district this year.

• Nelson and district directors acknowledged the accomplishments of staff and volunteers who participated in the district’s summer programs, including the summer food program, Ready Set Grow, STARS, Minds in the Middle, Extended School Year, School Age Childcare, Credit Recovery and Fresh Start.
•  Initial enrollment figures indicate higher-than-expected enrollment. Nelson said the district is evaluating each building to determine “hot spots” where additional staff needs to be placed. He asked parents whose children are moved to a new classroom to be patient while the district works to reduce class sizes. The most growth is expected at Heritage Middle School and Moreland Elementary.
•  The district is operating about 55 school buses and transporting approximately 3,000 students this year. A state mandate to provide a space on a bus for every student has been lifted, allowing the district to plan for only those students registered to ride the bus. Savings from that efficiency could easily be erased by the high price of diesel fuel, said Nelson. Already fuel costs are anticipated to exceed projections by $100,000.
•  The East Metro Integration District board plans to make a recommendation in October for what to do with its two schools now that integration funding has been eliminated by the Legislature.
•  Nelson provided a presentation on the school district referendum. Voters will be asked Nov. 8 to renew an existing levy and increase it by $1. 7 million to sustain existing programs and implement new cost saving and innovation programs in the district. Without passage of the referendum, the school board can expect to cut $3.2 million from the budget for the 2012-2013 school year.

Check back with Patch for more information on these school board actions.