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Preliminary teacher layoff notices approved in Ashwaubenon

By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer

ASHWAUNBEON – Preliminary layoff notices for four teachers were approved Wednesday, April 10, by the Ashwaubenon school board.

Cassandra Shallue, a five-year-old kindergarten teacher at Valley View Elementary School, and Michelle Flannigon, a sixth-grade teacher at Parkview Middle School, are the two full-time teachers receiving the preliminary notices.

Allison Sudol, a half-time, four-year-old kindergarten teacher at the Cormier School and Early Learing Center, also received a preliminary notice, while Patricia Christensen, an elementary music teacher at Cormier and Valley View, was notified of plans to reduce her full-time equivalent status by .08 from .72 to .64, said Business Director Keith Lucius.

Lucius said the preliminary notices were given to Shallue, Flannigon and Sudol because of the current uncertainty over the next state budget and how much funding the school district could receive for 2019-20, while the notice for Christensen reflects an anticipated drop in the student count.

To be able to lay off a teacher for the next school year, Lucius said state law requires a preliminary notice to be made by April, while a final layoff notice would be issued at the board’s May meeting.

Even if contracts for the three teachers are not renewed as currently planned, Lucius said they could still be called back, which he hopes will happen once more is known about the district’s budget outlook for 2019-20.

When asked about possible layoffs for support staff, Lucius said he does not expect any for the next school year.
Board members approved the hiring of a full-time special education aide at Parkview.

Elizabeth Ebben’s hiring, effective April 1, filled a vacancy due to a resignation.

Extended contracts

In other action, the board approved a series of extended contracts for 2019-20 to allow for necessary services to be provided at the middle and high schools and to create and update student health plans with work outside the normal school day, such as during the summer prior to classes starting in the fall.

“We’ve got guidance counselors who complete the student schedules over the summer,” Lucius said. “We’ve got our marketing and business person doing internships… You’ve got to prepare things for the start of the school year, so that everyone’s ready when students come in with special medical needs.”

The extended contracts, which Lucius said he expects will total around $10,000 with money coming out of the general fund, include four guidance counselors, two school nurses, a marketing/business teacher, librarian media/specialist and at-risk coordinator.

He said two of the guidance counselor positions are vacant due to staff retirements, and those exact contract amounts are not known at this point.

Lucius said there are 35 paid days that the extended contracts include and another 19 trade-off days that are funded as part of the regular contracts and handled with days off during the school year to minimize the cost.

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