Wauwatosa board reviews staffing alternatives, delays vote to next week

Wauwatosa — The Wauwatosa School District Board spent more than two hours on April 21 reviewing alternative staffing plans to address multi-year budget reductions, but took no formal vote and directed district staff to return a revised recommendation for the board to decide at its next meeting.

Dr. Means, who opened the staffing presentation, told the board that People & Family Supports currently includes "52.5 FTEs" and that the district must reduce positions over the next several years while trying to "sustain the positive momentum" in student supports. He emphasized that some specialist roles were initially funded with temporary ESSER dollars and "were not supposed to be sustained over a long period of time." (Dr. Means)

The administration presented four alternative models that change the balance between curriculum-and-instruction (CNI) specialists (coaches) and academic intervention teachers. Example counts shared with the board included: Model A — 12 CNI specialists and 14 intervention teachers; Model B — 10 CNI specialists and 15 intervention teachers with a second district behavioral specialist; Model C — 11 CNI specialists and 14 intervention teachers; and Model D — deeper cuts (examples shown: 10 CNI and 14 intervention teachers plus reductions to…