Schools shuffle administrators for budget savings
SALEM – Faced with a projected shortfall of at least $2 million in state money for the next school year, the Salem School Board has shuffled its principals to fill leadership vacancies and double up on responsibilities in the school system next year, and promoted from within to fill leadership positions at the elementary schools and Andrew Lewis Middle School.
Tuesday night in a closed session, members of the school board discussed appointments and approved the changes. Overnight School Superintendent Dr. Alan Seibert contacted the administrators and made the announcements early March 10.
Leading Salem’s schools next year will be:
G.W. Carver Elementary School will have a new principal next year, when Principal Trula Byington moves to West Salem Elementary and other administrators change positions.
• Dr. Joseph Coleman, principal of G.W. Carver Elementary School and Division Director of Assessment;
• Donnie Spangler, supervisor of Adult Basic Education and AIIMS Reading Intervention;
• Trula Byington, principal of West Salem Elementary School;
• Debbie Carroll, Assistant Principal West Salem Elementary School
• Chris King, assistant principal for Activities and Instruction, Andrew Lewis Middle School
• Kristyn Shepherd, assistant principal of East Salem Elementary School
Coleman is already director of assessment for the school system and was formerly principal of South Salem Elementary and before that, Carver where he was principal from 1983-1989.
Byington is moving from the principalship of Carver to West Salem where Principal John Millard is retiring this summer after 25 years.
Carroll moves over from the assistant principalship at East Salem Elementary where she has been since 2004. She is filling Spangler’s vacancy. The director of adult education is funded by a new state grant to Salem Schools.
King has taught for 17 years in Salem and is a Certified Athletic Administrator who coached at ALMS. He will be filling the vacancy at ALMS left by Mike Akers, who is retiring after 35 years.
Shepherd is a Nationally Board Certified teacher at South Salem who was Outstanding Teacher of the Year from the Virginia Council for Learning Disabilities in 2008.
Seibert said more than 20 internal and external candidates were interviewed as part of the search process to establish the Leadership Team for 2010-2011. “Change is seldom easy, but this innovative restructuring will safeguard instruction and maintain a high level of leadership experience,” he said. “Talented teachers, remarkable students, and supportive communities will ensure the continued success of the involved schools and their leaders.”
He said additional adjustments in roles and responsibilities will be necessary in the months ahead, but added the net result is a reduction in the current Division Leadership Team “that will provide savings in salaries and benefits to help close the budget gap and ultimately save the jobs of other employees.”
Seibert continued, “We will all be doing more with less next year and it is important to start with the leaders who will be asking the same of all who serve in the school division.”
Salem Schools have already targeted ways they can save about $1-1/2-million through reducing costs and not filling vacancies when teachers, administrators and staff leave or retire.
“We still need to come up with about $500,000 more” that could be cut from next year’s school budget, Seibert said before Tuesday night’s School Board meeting.
Salem School officials are waiting until Virginia House of Delegates and the Senate finish their work combining their proposed state budget figures to determine if more or less than $500,000 needs to be trimmed.
The FY 2011 proposed Salem School budget is $42.1 million, with $11.4 million of the school budget is from local City of Salem funds – but that, too, isn’t final. The city will adopt its budget later.
The legislature is scheduled to adopt a final budget by March 13, the end of this year’s 60-day session. The Salem School Board is scheduled to adopt its budget on March 23, and is expected to consider pay scales for teachers and other personnel at its April meeting.
