Revere Ways and Means panel recommends cuts to some coaching and operations posts, keeps health techs and civics coach

Revere Public Schools' Ways and Means Subcommittee recommended eliminating several central and school-based positions and voted to retain a small group of student-support roles at a meeting the committee held Oct. 11, 2025.

The panel moved to recommend cutting the districtwide restorative-justice coach, the communications director, the grading coach and a set of operations positions (three middle-school operations posts and one high-school operations post). The subcommittee voted to retain four health technicians, an alternative physical-education position that serves students with special needs, and a civics coach. The committee forwarded its recommendations to the full school committee for final action.

Chairman John Kingston, reading a financial overview into the record, said the district entered the process with a roughly $10,000,000 reserve and expected a carryover of about $5,000,000 but warned that a projected 4% salary increase next year will reduce that cushion. "Now I know next year, we're gonna be probably having a different type of conversation because we're gonna be having salary increases of 4%. Our carryover won't be at $5,000,000," Kingston said.

Vice Chair Jacqueline Monterosso, who could not attend in person and sent a written statement read into the record, urged the committee to "please continue to advocate and work to fund the civics coach position and at least 2 to 3 health aids or health tech." The vice chair's letter argued that nurse aides and health technicians are essential to keeping students safe and that retaining a small number of these positions would not exhaust reserves.

Discussion at the meeting focused on tradeoffs between preserving instructional and student-support positions and reducing recurring personnel costs. Committee members said they weighed principals' requests and parents' emails alongside fiscal constraints. One member noted principals had told the committee they "cannot live without the restorative-justice coach," while others said they had received multiple emails arguing to retain civics and health-support positions.

Members debated whether to treat high-school and middle-school operations posts as a single block or separate votes. One motion to eliminate all four operations positions was moved and seconded and then split into separate votes after discussion. The subcommittee ultimately approved recommending the elimination of the operations positions to the full committee but recorded that principals had said the middle-school operations posts were especially important.

On special-education support, the committee heard that roughly 50 elementary and early-childhood students across the district receive adaptive PE, and principals said that adaptive PE work often overlaps with services provided by occupational and physical therapists. Member Caggiano moved to retain the alternative physical-education position; the motion carried in subcommittee and that retention will be part of the package forwarded to the full committee.

The subcommittee recorded that contractual and collective-bargaining rules could affect savings from eliminating some positions: an administrator who is removed from a role may have rights under the district's agreement with the teachers' bargaining unit (the Revere Teachers Association) to bump into other administrative posts or return to the teachers' unit under contract terms. The committee noted those contractual obligations could limit near-term budgetary savings for certain eliminated posts.

The committee reiterated that its recommendations are advisory and will be considered by the full school committee at its next meeting, when the budget will be voted. Several members said the recommendations reflect current fiscal concerns and that future budgets could look different if enrollment or state aid changes.

The subcommittee adjourned after confirming the items it will forward: recommended cuts to the districtwide restorative-justice coach, the communications director, the grading coach and the operations positions; and retention of four health technicians, the alternative PE position and the civics coach.