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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

CV Hiring Freeze A Hedge Against Budget Cuts District Says Loss Of Employees From Attrition Shouldn’t Leave Valley Schools Understaffed

Fearing budget cuts from the state Legislature, Central Valley School District this week announced a hiring freeze.

But district officials quickly reassured teachers and principals that no schools would go short-staffed.

“Exactly how we’re going to do it, I don’t know, but there’s going to be a teacher there for that kid,” said CV spokesman Skip Bonuccelli. The district does not expect enrollment to increase, he said.

Six teachers, one counselor and six staff members, including a nurse, a bookkeeper and a cook, all have announced plans to retire by the end of the school year.

In a press release, CV Superintendent Dick Sovde said “positions affected by the hiring freeze will include any vacancies that arise due to resignation or retirement.”

But positions that the district had already begun to fill before the freeze was announced, such as University High School’s principal, will not be affected, Bonuccelli said.

The district is not going to leave any school in the lurch, said Personnel Director Wally Stanley. For example, he said, Broadway Elementary, which is losing a fourth-grade teacher, will not go short-staffed.

Dave Bouge, principal at North Pines Junior High School said he was assured by district administration that the counseling position being vacated by Kenneth Wendt will be filled.

But Bouge is less sure the school’s part-time music teacher position will be filled. Retiring strings instructor William Cahill splits his time between North Pines and Horizon junior highs.

“Those are the things that go first,” Bouge said. “The music, the shops.”

Broadway, Ponderosa and University elementary schools, Horizon, Evergreen and North Pines junior high schools and Central Valley High School all are losing longtime teachers to retirement this year.

Principals have been assured that staffing needs would be met, but where the replacement teachers will come from is the unanswered question.

“Maybe I’ll be that fourth-grade teacher,” joked Stanley, who downplayed the hiring freeze, saying it’s a way of alerting employees that times are tight and no budgetary decisions can be made until the Legislature votes.

There’s no telling when that will happen.

House and Senate negotiations are in the third week, with both sides refusing to make concessions on major issues. The House proposes cutting the state budget by $738 million. The Senate version proposes $264 million in cuts.

One possibility teachers could face in a budget crunch is more students per class, said Central Valley Education Association President Roy Maier.

“I believe that’s probably going to be the case,” Maier said. “It’s not a happy situation, but we have to live with it.”

Maier said the CV teacher’s contract specifies: Kindergarten classes should not have more than 22 students, first through third grade, 25; fourth through sixth, 29; and seventh through 12th, 32.