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Parents and staff urge Sioux City board to keep four budgeted assistant principals; board debates stipends
Summary
A district employee and multiple board members pressed to keep four elementary assistant principals in the budget to protect instructional time and special-education compliance; directors debated stipend policy for secondary administrators and possible alternatives.
Speakers at the March 9 meeting urged the Sioux City Community School District to honor previously budgeted plans to add four elementary assistant principals and to consider alternatives only if funding cannot be identified.
Terry March, a district employee, told the board the two buildings serving Sunnyside and Novolin combined enroll 532 students and include 61 students with individualized education programs. She said the buildings had recorded 565 referrals this year and warned that one administrator covering two buildings left teachers handling behavioral crises and lost instructional minutes.
"This is not sustainable for one administrator moving between two buildings," March told the board. She asked the board to "honor that commitment even if it is for one year and then evaluate the sustainability," and suggested a dean-of-students as a lower-cost alternative if full assistant principals were unaffordable.
Board members expressed sympathy and varying views. Several directors said they support adding assistant principals to protect instructional time and to reduce burnout; others said the district faces significant budget pressure and urged caution about stipends for secondary administrators.
One director noted the district faces an anticipated $10,000,000 shortfall next year and questioned how stipends would be awarded equitably across thousands of employees. Administrators and legal counsel explained that stipends had been structured to avoid being part of base salary (which can complicate later moves between buildings) and that the positions would be posted following HR and legal review.
Directors asked administration to provide clear projections and job-description updates so the board can weigh the investment, and said the items will return on an HR report for formal action.
The board did not vote to remove the positions; several members said they expect to see the budgeted assistant-principal positions reappear in upcoming HR reports and postings.
