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Parent urges board to retain a third elementary teaching position, cites literacy data
Summary
A resident told the board to preserve three elementary teaching positions—two already restored and a third still at risk—arguing that literacy screening data and prior classroom consolidations show the cohort needs smaller classes for academic and social stability.
At the Waterford Board of Education meeting, resident Jimmy Nicholas asked the board to keep three elementary teaching positions in planning, including a third position at Great Neck that he said affects about 40 students in a current fourth-grade cohort.
Nicholas said the board previously voted to retain two teaching positions at a cost he cited as $214,000 (one position at Quaker Hill and one at Great Neck). He described the superintendent’s prior recommendation to cut those positions and praised the board of finance and the board for ultimately restoring funding. "That was your decision and in my opinion it was the right one," he said.
Nicholas argued that the cohort facing a proposed reduction previously experienced consolidated sections that led to behavioral issues and lost activities; he said literacy screening data presented to the board showed that the current fourth-grade cohort is the only elementary cohort whose intervention rates increased from fall to winter. "These students need more support, not less," he said, and asked the board to "keep that third position in your planning as budget conditions evolve."
Nicholas also framed the staffing request in local economic terms, saying school quality will affect whether incoming employees from large local employers choose Waterford. He asked the board to revisit staffing if contract savings, attrition or revised estimates free up funds.
The board did not take an immediate vote on staffing at this meeting; discussion of budget and staffing was placed in the context of ongoing budget planning and the board of finance actions referenced by the speaker.
What’s next: Nicholas requested that the board maintain the three positions in district planning and monitor evolving budget flexibility to restore positions if possible.
