School board to ponder possible cuts
By NICK VLAHOS
For The Weekly Post
WILLIAMSFIELD – Layoffs might soon be coming to the Williamsfield School District.
As many as two certified staff members, two food-service employees and all teachers’ aides would be let go under a proposal Interim Superintendent Rolf Sivertsen presented Monday night to the Williamsfield School Board.
The cuts would save the cash-strapped district between about $575,000 and $680,000, depending on how many aides might be recalled.
Job reductions are part of Sivertsen’s three-pronged plan to return the district to financial health. The district is to receive money this week from the first prong, a $1.1 million working-cash bond issue the board authorized last month. Adjusting the property-tax levy for the next fiscal year is the third element.
But the proposed move in the middle is proving to be painful.
“This isn’t easy for me to stand up here and make these recommendations,” Sivertsen told the board. “I met with all the aides and also met with the people in food service, because I felt I owed them an explanation. It was a very uncomfortable position to be in.
“My first comment was ‘I’m sorry we’re in this position. Nonetheless, I have a responsibility to make recommendations to the board so we can get out of this mess as quickly as possible.’ You do not want to bleed this out. That would be a mistake.”
The district faces a projected deficit of at least $400,000. On March 10, board members are expected to consider Sivertsen’s staffing suggestions and/or consider some of their own.
Under his plan, Sivertsen said three or four of the district’s 10 aides probably would be rehired for the 2025-26 year. The district has 31 teachers and five food-service employees.
Half a teaching position and one custodian job already have been eliminated through attrition. The latter action involves not filling the full-time opening left by the resignation of custodian Hanna Rhodes, which the board accepted Monday. A part-timer, perhaps a student, is expected to replace Rhodes.
If retiring Technology Director Rick Hartz is not replaced, another $90,000 might be saved, Sivertsen said. Earlier in the meeting, the board affirmed Hartz’s retirement, effective May 30.
Sivertsen said he doesn’t know which two teaching positions he’ll recommend for elimination. He intends to try to determine which eliminations might affect students the least. April 15 is the state-mandated deadline to dismiss teachers.
Board Member Lisa Hanson asked Sivertsen if other cost-cutting options might be considered.
“I think anything’s on the table, but what’s your largest overhead? Bodies,” Sivertsen said.
Non-personnel cuts Sivertsen offered are tuition for students who take classes through Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg and the Galesburg Area Vocational Center.
Statistics Sivertsen provided indicate Billtown spends significantly more per pupil than nearby districts. Operating expenses in 2023 were $19,673 per student, compared to $11,744 in Elmwood, $14,868 in Princeville and $16,373 in Brimfield.
“We can throw more taxes at it, but it doesn’t fix our spending problem,” Board President Chad Goff said. “We’re way too high on per-student costs, and we have to fix that. Regardless of how we do it, we’re going to have to fix it. It’s been a spending problem for a very long time.”
No members of the public attended the meeting, but Hanson read a letter from district resident Tillie Hall that appeared to support the aides.
“Paraprofessionals are indispensable assets to elementary-school classrooms,” Hall wrote. “It is essential that we recognize their valuable contributions.”
Among other actions, the board:
• Hired Devin Fuqua as an assistant junior-high volleyball coach.
• Approved family/medical leave for two unidentified employees.
• Authorized high school graduation to be held at 2 p.m. May 18.
• OK’d creating a staff-appreciation activity fund, in response to the district eliminating free coffee and breakfast for teachers. Sivertsen said he and Goff contributed $100 each.
After closed session, the board approved an agreement that allows a student, unidentified publicly, to remain in school instead of being expelled. No details were released.
