Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Staffing topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lewiston committee backs social workers, resists librarian cuts and asks admin to remake coaching staffing
Summary
Committee members favored adding social-worker positions at the middle and high school, rejected combining middle/high librarians into one role, and instructed administrators to seek $100k–$200k by restructuring central coaching roles rather than making immediate classroom-facing cuts.
Lewiston — In a workshop focused on balancing services and a tight budget, the School Committee on April 15 moved to preserve certain school-based supports while asking administration to find savings in central-office positions.
The committee used a category-by-category approach to triage reductions and additions. After more than an hour of discussion about library services, members rejected the superintendent’s proposal to replace separate middle- and high‑school librarians with a single 7–12 librarian and an ed‑tech role. "Librarians don't deal with books alone — they teach information and media literacy," Member Herd said. A straw poll showed a majority favored keeping both librarian positions.
Clinical supports were a central focus. Members expressed broad concern about gaps in social-work coverage across the district’s buildings. By straw poll, the committee favored adding general-purpose social workers for Lewiston Middle School and Lewiston High School. Members framed the hires as investments in student safety and prevention. Member Hawkins said the middle-to-high-school transition is an especially volatile period and that "having the support as they make that transition and transition into high school" can be decisive for students.
Special-education resource-room positions flagged for reduction are largely vacant; administration said the openings are currently covered by other arrangements. Members asked staff to model alternatives such as one-time stipends for teachers who absorb additional duties ("Would a $5,000 stipend help?" Member Jensen asked) and to assess labor-relations constraints before implementing stipend policies.
Coaching and curriculum supports led to one of the clearest process directives: several members said instructional coaches at schools could absorb some district-level duties if the central tier were trimmed. Rather than immediately cutting named MTSS, literacy or math specialist positions, the committee asked administration to identify $100,000–$200,000 in savings through restructuring and to return with concrete scenarios.
The committee’s decisions were advisory workshop outcomes: staff will return with a reconciled budget package that reflects the committee’s category-level directions and a final calculation of the local tax ask before the May referendum.
Who said what: For attribution, quotes in this article come from committee members and district staff at the April 15 workshop. The first reference to each person in the text includes the speaker’s full name and role.
