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Personnel committee forwards tentative K–12 music staffing plan to full board after clarifying FTE and social-media confusion
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Summary
The Germantown School District personnel committee on April 14 forwarded a tentative K–12 music staffing plan to the full board after administrators explained FTE calculations and reassured the public that preliminary packet language did not mean staff reductions; two teacher resignations and one limited-term contract were also announced.
The Germantown School District personnel committee voted April 14 to forward a positive recommendation to the full board on a tentative K–12 music staffing plan after staff walked members through FTE calculations and addressed public concerns arising from a packet that circulated on social media.
Dr. Martin Castro, who led the staffing presentation, told the committee the district will include two teacher resignations on the upcoming board agenda: a high-school math teacher, Nathan, who is relocating to Washington state for a partner's residency, and Melissa, a kindergarten teacher at McArthur, who is relocating to a district closer to home. Castro also said the district will bring a limited-term contract for Katie Stell, a seventh-grade science teacher at KMS, to cover a class after a termination.
The presentation focused on how the district calculates FTE for specials and fine-arts positions when teachers travel between buildings. "When you travel, we count it as a 30-minute session, essentially, which calculates out to 0.02," Castro said, describing how travel time and lesson delivery combine to create fractional FTE totals. He reported current figures of about 2.97 FTE for elementary music (a 0.12 reduction from an earlier figure, subject to change as sections are added) and 3.4 FTE for the middle school, and said high-school music staffing remained unchanged.
Committee members and staff credited the music program's community support but acknowledged a communication lapse after a committee packet was shared widely online. Chair said the packet's preliminary numbers caused "a small panic within our community" and urged residents to seek information directly from district directors rather than from unverified social-media summaries. Martine, who identified herself during the meeting and said she fielded many questions from parents, noted "what was in the packet was a 0.4 reduction" but stated that she had been told "no one was losing a job." (The transcript also uses the spelling "Martina" elsewhere; the speaker self-identified as "Martine." )
After discussion about enrollment projections, how "sections" (class sections) affect staffing, and how policy around class sizes triggers increases or reductions, a committee member moved to forward a recommendation to the full board to approve the tentative K'through'12 music staffing plan. The motion was seconded and approved by the committee.
The committee also approved the meeting agenda and the March 17, 2026 meeting minutes earlier in the session. The meeting was adjourned at 7:22 p.m. The staffing plan and the announced personnel items will appear on the full board agenda for formal action in two weeks.
