Special dayton school board meeting update

DAYTON – The Dayton School Board held a work session meeting at 6 p.m., on April 5, 2023, in the high school library. School board members Grant Griffen, Zac Fabin, Superintendent Rich Stewart, and Business Manager Jana Eaton attended in person. Chair Jeffrey McCowen, Aneesha Dieu, and Korinda Wallace attended using Zoom.

The Board approved the recommendation to hire Ajay McNarland as the middle school (MS) Assistant Baseball Coach, approved Jeremy Trump as a volunteer MS Softball Coach, and accepted the resignation of a bus driver.

The school board typically holds one meeting in April due to spring break. The superintendent wanted to begin discussing staffing recommendations early and added the evening’s work session. Staff reductions are necessary because the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds approved by Congress during the COVID emergency will no longer be available after this school year.

Stewart said the district needs to reduce staffing funds by about $300,000 to ensure a balanced budget next year. He proposed the district eliminate two full-time teaching positions in the secondary school and, on half, a full-time teaching position at the elementary school. He also proposed eliminating two part-time administrative/support positions district-wide, equivalent to one full-time position.

Stewarts’s team supported keeping the Bulldog Room, K-12 counseling, K-12 music, and the Academic Advisor program. Stewart recommended cutting the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) program in the Elementary School. Presumably, these topics would be picked up by home-room teachers at that level. Specific cuts will be determined later.

The Board entered executive session at 6:22 p.m.; the chair adjourned the meeting at 7:04 p.m.