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Derby board approves posting for three district positions amid budget planning
Summary
Derby Board of Education approved posting three positions — an elementary special education teacher, a high school assistant principal and a director of teaching and learning — as district leaders refine budget priorities ahead of the 2025–26 school year.
The Derby Board of Education on Feb. 24 authorized the district to post three job openings the administration said are needed to support academic priorities and building needs assessments.
Director of finance Pam Kelly told the board principals compiled building-level top-five priorities and district leaders refined those lists during a Feb. 12 leadership meeting. The administration recommended adding an elementary special education teacher, a high school assistant principal and a director of teaching and learning to support implementation of the district strategic plan and buildings’ needs assessments. Kelly said state legislative action currently projects roughly $2,100,000 in increased funding for next year, which informed the timeline for posting positions.
Kelly said the special education teacher and high school assistant principal are existing job descriptions; the director of teaching and learning is a new position and human resources will present a recommended job description to the board in March. The board approved posting all three positions but the district will not fill the director role until the board has approved its job description.
Board members discussed priorities and budget discipline. Board member Mike (first-name record) urged the board to ensure the full budget aligns with buildings’ needs assessments rather than focusing solely on incremental increases. Superintendent Heather Bohati and other board members emphasized the difficulty of retaining staff in a tight labor market and said raises and benefits were frequent priorities in buildings’ submissions.
The motion to post the three positions passed unanimously, 7-0. The board asked administration to bring refined recommendations to the budget committee and to present the director of teaching and learning job description for formal approval before any hire.
The board also discussed next steps for the budget process: principals’ prioritized lists will be used to create formal recommendations and the budget committee will meet in mid-March to refine allocations.
