Teachers, parents and administrators urge board to spare deans, oppose staffing cuts as board OKs short-term loan

The North Shore School District board of directors on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, heard sustained public opposition to proposed 2025–26 budget cuts that district staff say could eliminate all deans of students and reduce assistant principals and secondary teacher positions, while the board approved several routine facilities items and authorized an interfund loan of up to $13,000,000 from the capital projects fund to cover a projected low cash balance.

Why it matters: Educators and parents told the board the staffing reductions would worsen large secondary class sizes, remove key behavioral and mental-health supports and threaten campus safety. District leaders said the short-term loan is a cash-management step, not a solution to recurring revenue shortfalls.

The North Shore Education Association presented a letter signed by 1,241 members as of noon Feb. 10 opposing the district’s proposed 2025–26 budget, which the association said would “eliminate all dean of students positions, reduce secondary teacher positions, and reduce assistant principal positions.” Robbie Reed, president of the North Shore Education Association, told the board the proposed cuts “will have a devastating impact on our students' education, safety, and well-being by increasing our already large secondary class sizes and laying off essential staff who support safety, security, and school culture.”

Reed and other speakers repeated figures included in the association’s letter that, the union said, the district has endured $46,000,000 in budget reductions over the past two years and that staff have already agreed to concessions. Reed added that the association “do[es] not accept any restoration plan that prioritizes purchasing curriculum over the reinstatement of staff positions that directly support students.”

Teachers, deans and parents described how those positions function in day-to-day operations.…