Richland 02 board approves professional-position eliminations over one dissent

The Richland 02 Board of Trustees voted 6–1 on March 24, 2026 to approve the district administration’s recommendation to eliminate a set of professional positions outlined in document 4.6.

The motion to approve the recommendation was made by Miss Washington and seconded by Miss Porter. Dr. Elen Scott registered the lone no vote after delivering an extended statement criticizing the board’s approach, saying the eliminations could remove crucial income from employees and that the board had not done enough to explore alternatives.

"When we're talking about eliminating jobs, that's taken people away from a possible income that they could have had," Dr. Elen Scott said, later adding that she had served on the board for 14 years and was voting no because she believed the process was insufficient.

Other trustees countered that the administration and board had completed position audits, job-description reviews and committee work over the past year and that the recommendation followed established procedures. Miss Porter thanked staff and emphasized that the administration and board had worked to be transparent within legal and policy limits.

A readback of the motion and roll call was included in the public record before the vote. Board documents cited during discussion described prior audits, staffing reviews and an intent to manage district resources; the public readback recorded the final tally as six yes, one no. The transcript did not include dollar amounts tied to the proposed eliminations; the administration indicated human-resources follow-up and support for affected staff will be provided.

Next steps: Human Resources will manage transitions for affected employees and report back to the board. Trustees asked for committee-level briefings and additional documentation to be placed in the board brief so members can review particulars of the positions and any mitigation applied to impacted staff.