Central High reduces staff

Ronnie Pettijohn felt betrayed Monday night.
After 10 years of service to his alma mater, the 62-year-old maintenance man was told he would not have a job after May 25.
“First, they cut my bus route. Then, they cut my hours,” Pettijohn said. “Now, they say they are going to outsource a lot of the things I did.”
Pettijohn was one of five members of the Central High Public Schools staff that won’t return to the school next year after the board of education accepted recommendations by the administration for a reduction-in-force.
The cuts will save the district $210,000 going into next year’s budget, said superintendent Bennie Newton.
“The bottom line is we need to save $250,000 before the next school year,” Newton said. “The only way to accomplish that was to reduce staff and salaries. With additional cuts and mandates, we should be able to get there with these reductions.”
Newton did not rule out future cuts.
Monday night’s special meeting of the school board was the required hearing for the six members of the school’s staff that had been notified of the cuts. In addition to the five that will not return next year, while a sixth member will work next year in a reduced capacity.
Among those not returning is third-grade teacher Stacy Scholl, though she understood the circumstances.
“It’s not their fault. We shouldn’t be pointing the fingers at the school board,” said Scholl, in her fourth year at the school. “Where’s the money to fund schools? We should be asking these questions to the people who are distributing the money.”
Scholl, 34, is one of two elementary teachers that were hired four years ago, giving her the least tenure in her building.
Because of numbers of students in second grade this year, Newton said the two classes could be combined into one. That would leave 32 kids in one classroom next year. It also made Scholl expendable.
Pettijohn is not as understanding. A retired firefighter, he came about this job by accident.
“I would come up and do things for my wife (who was a teacher at the school),” he said. “I did everything from building bulletin boards to fixing doors.
“Of course, when I got hired, she left,” he joked.
Maintenance, he said, evolved into working on the buses.
“You do it once, and it becomes yours,” he noted. “It’s kind of the way things work around here.”
Pettijohn was told that bus work would be outsourced, and other jobs would be handled by the one other custodian, or volunteers.
“I’ve priced the outsourcing for those buses,” Pettijohn said. “It’s $80 per hour and 45 cents per mile. That can add up quick.”
Newton noted that the administration figured possible outsourcing over the past year, and felt that it would not outweigh the reduction in salary.
“This was never something we wanted to do,” Newton said.
Jerry Howell, who took over as school board president last month, agreed.
“Let me just say that this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Howell announced during the meeting.
Others that would be out of a job include middle school teacher Chrandra Smith, library media specialist Stacy Tomlinson, and teacher’s assistant Lisa Blaine.
Newton said Smith’s job would be combined with other positions in the middle.
Tomlinson, Newton noted, was not certified to teach in the high school, and that the administration would hire a part-time librarian and teacher in her place.
Blaine’s position would be absorbed by the two remaining teacher’s assistants.
School counselor Matt Middick will return next year, working a fraction of his schedule this year.