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SFDR-CISD Employee Reorganization Discussion Continues
The SFDR-CISD School Board met on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, to discuss potential budget and revenue changes for the upcoming 2024-2025 school year.
A number of options were discussed during the meeting, including the employee reorganization proposals that would potentially affect elementary school Librarians and Fine Arts departments across the district.
Chief Financial Officer, Amy Childress, presented several options to reduce the district’s budget, including personnel changes/reassignments, salary and benefit changes, discussed positions currently funded by grants, and maintenance and repair costs across multiple campuses and district buildings, among others.
The proposed employee reorganization, if approved, would include reassigning seven elementary campus librarians and six elementary campus Fine Arts teachers, including art and music, to other teaching vacancies across the district. If this proposal moves forward, several librarians and fine arts teachers would be teaching across multiple campuses, cutting these programs down from year-round to one semester of instruction.
The superintendent commented that the priority, if and when additional funds are allocated to the district and the budget is balanced, would be reinstating those teaching positions that are possibly up for reassignment. “If we move forward with these budget reductions, the commitment would be that as soon as we balance the budget and we saw that there was some excess capital there, our goal would be to have the staffing pattern that we had this year,” SFDR-CISD Superintendent Dr. Carlos H. Rios, clarified to the board and those in attendance.
Members of the public were invited to speak to the board and voice their thoughts and concerns regarding the possible reorganization of librarians and Fine Arts teachers. Retired music teacher, Carrie De la Rosa, presented research about the academic benefits of student participation in music and art to the board in an effort to highlight the importance of those programs. “Research has shown that when school districts have full-time, year-round music and art teachers in elementary schools, the kids score better academically on their standardized and end-of-year tests,” De la Rosa shared. “Students involved in music generally tested higher in reading proficiency exams than those who had no musical involvement,” she read from a recent study.
The parent of an elementary school art student, Ariana Davis, grew emotional when speaking to the board about the importance of keeping art and music programs available to students like her son, who have an interest in and passion for the arts. “Those resources should be there for them and I come here to humbly ask you to reconsider those changes because a lot of kids communicate through art and music and it helps with their development,” she stated during her allotted time.
Though no final decisions have been made and the board is still actively exploring all of their options, several board members cautioned that if slight changes are not made now, more drastic measures will have to be taken in the future to avoid larger budget deficits in the coming school years.
“The bottom line is that there has to be some change, and it’s not gonna be a happy one for some,” Rebekah L. Chavez, Place V board member stated, “but the thing is we’re trying to get everyone to stay and not lose their job. It might be in a different position but there will still be a paycheck at the end of the month.”
The board went into executive session to discuss the proposed issue and returned with no action taken as they felt more discussion was required to weigh their options before making a decision. Upon recommendation from the superintendent, the board plans to reconvene during the week of June 3rd to finalize employee reorganization.
More information to come as Connect Del Rio follows this story.
This Journalist can be contacted at alondra.sanchez@connectdelrio.com
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