School budget adopted with no cuts to administration

PINE PLAINS — After a lengthy discussion regarding the need for both a middle school and high school principal, as well as a dean of students, the Pine Plains Central School District’s Board of Education voted to keep its current administrative layout and unanimously adopted a 2011-12 budget for voter approval next month.A special meeting had been scheduled at the end of the board’s April 6 meeting, after Trustee Todd Bowen suggested having two principals in the district’s Stissing Mountain Middle/High School, as well as a dean of students, was unnecessary. At that meeting several board members criticized the late timing of the proposal, but agreed to hear the logistics of what those reductions might mean to the district before making a final decision.For further discussion, a special meeting was called for Wednesday, April 13, and in the week leading up to the meeting district administrators prepared a lengthy presentation, which included a history of the school’s administrative structure dating back to the 1980s, cost estimates of the administrative positions in question and a list of principals’ responsibilities. That presentation was made by Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer.Since the late 1980s, Pine Plains has used a variety of administrative configurations including disciplinary assistants, principals, assistant principals, department chairs and administrative assistants. The costs (converted into 2011 dollars by Kaumeyer for the presentation) followed little pattern from year to year, from a low of about $121,000 during the 1987-88 school year to roughly $271,000 in the 2005-06 school year. Currently the administrative layout for Stissing Mountain Middle/High School (two principals, two department chairs for health and physical education and one dean of students) costs the district $261,625.60.One of the prominent configurations back in the 1970s and ’80s, school board President Bruce Kimball recalled (he retired from teaching in the district after more than 30 years) was having one principal for the middle school and high school, and seven department chairs that were responsible for the “vast majority” of observation and evaluation of teachers. Those chairs, who were full-time teachers in the building, were paid a stipend as chairs and were relieved of one class duty, which was covered by another teacher for an additional stipend.When the department chairs were eliminated because it was discovered that they weren’t legally allowed to evaluate teachers, Kimball said that a middle school principal was added.“Rightfully so, I believe, because one individual could not cover all the responsibilities that seven people were doing,” he said.As Kaumeyer explained, if the board were to eliminate a principal’s position, high school Principal Tara Horst would have to be let go under education law’s “last in first out” layoff procedure. Horst’s annual salary is approximately $99,000.The dean of students position was only recently created; disciplinary matters were previously handled by two teachers. Pine Plains was able to employ retired teacher Dennis Malloy as dean of students. Malloy is paid on a per diem basis, with a $30,000 maximum salary and no benefits.Kaumeyer went through a detailed list of a principal’s duties in the district, ranging from instructional responsibilities to issues involving building and student management. A majority of the discussion was spent on the teacher evaluation process, which Kimball called “the most important responsibility of a principal, because that’s what affects your kids in the classroom.”Under several subheadings, Kaumeyer also illustrated how the legally-mandated responsibilities of principals have increased since the ’80s and are scheduled to increase again in the near future.For example, under evaluations, the superintendent pointed to the APPR (Annual Professional Performance Review) processes mandated by the state starting in the 2000-01 school year, as well as a new system that is currently under development.To illustrate the amount of time evaluations can take, Kaumeyer pointed to an estimate from the state, regarding the forthcoming new evaluation system, that estimates the proper evaluation of each teacher taking 29 hours per year. If there are 63 staff members and only one administrator, that administrator would spend 36 of the 52 work weeks in a school year (at 50 hours a week) completing evaluations. Even if those estimated hours are exaggerated, cutting the hours in half would still account for an enormous workload, Trustee Helene McQuade pointed out.Also provided to the board were comparisons between the administrative layout in surrounding school districts, which were not listed by name. Although some of the six districts were less comparable to Pine Plains because of higher student populations, only one district did not have both a high school and middle school principal and that district had several hundred fewer students.When Kaumeyer’s presentation was finished (it took nearly an hour), the board retired to its main meeting room. Bowen, in his first year as a board member, said that the information provided that night was new to him.“I can only base my opinion on what I know,” he said. “If I don’t have all the information …”As the issue of principals and dean of students was the only concern voiced by board members at the April 6 meeting, Kimball entertained a vote to adopt the 2011-12 budget at $27,943,145, which is just under a 4 percent budget-to-budget increase. Under those figures, the tax levy would increase an estimated 4.61 percent.The board voted unanimously to adopt the budget without cutting any administrative positions. Under the board’s current schedule, there will be a public hearing on the budget at the May 4 board meeting. District taxpayers will vote on the budget and several other propositions, including the purchase of school buses, on May 17.