UV forced to make staff cuts
NEW BERLIN – Due to a decrease in New York State funding, at least one school district is faced with the harsh reality of having to eliminate faculty – in addition to a popular reading program, materials and supplies and limiting the number of field trips for the upcoming school year.
Unadilla Valley Superintendent Robert Mackey said positions will be eliminated next year, including an elementary teacher, a high school social studies teacher and a licensed teaching assistant. The physical education/health position will be filled internally instead of hiring a new person as was previously budgeted.
The hardest-hit program, according to Mackey, is the elementary school’s Reading First program which targets students in kindergarten through third grade. The grant-funded program was introduced two years ago, and state funding was intended to keep it running for a three-year span. The district planned to adapt and absorb the needed funds to keep the program implemented after that.
Now, entering its third year, the grant that was originally supposed to give the school $350,000 came in at only $78,980.
“Last year we got word we may lose funding in the third year, so we saved $30,000. That $30,000 is part of the roughly $78,000 we have to operate this year,” said elementary school Principal Steve Bradley.
According to Mackey, the district is amending its federal funding and the money that will be saved throughout the summer for training and summer school will help pay for the Reading First program.
After receiving word that state funding was decreased and the district would be faced with faculty and staff position limitations as well as other cutbacks, letters were mailed to senators and assemblymen April 24.
“More devastating than the actual dollar figure, however, is the feeling of abandonment just as the children began showing some success” in the Reading First program, the letter stated. A graph detailing the students success was provided. The letter also asked each politician to offer one-time grants from their offices in support of UV.
Tracey Nicotera, the district’s Reading First coach, has been on board since the program was introduced. She said the three-tier curriculum has helped the student body meet its benchmarks as well as furthered the district’s effort in tracking and assessing students.
The first tier provides 90 minutes of an uninterrupted reading that focuses on a larger group of readers who are reading at benchmark level; the second tier follows the same approach of 90 minutes of reading with differentiated instruction with smaller groups; and the third tier is designed to help readers who have not made it to their benchmark goal.
“As students meet their goals, they are continuously progressing to the next level. We are better than where we were, but we’re not where we want to be,” Nicotera said.
Unadilla Valley Superintendent Robert Mackey said positions will be eliminated next year, including an elementary teacher, a high school social studies teacher and a licensed teaching assistant. The physical education/health position will be filled internally instead of hiring a new person as was previously budgeted.
The hardest-hit program, according to Mackey, is the elementary school’s Reading First program which targets students in kindergarten through third grade. The grant-funded program was introduced two years ago, and state funding was intended to keep it running for a three-year span. The district planned to adapt and absorb the needed funds to keep the program implemented after that.
Now, entering its third year, the grant that was originally supposed to give the school $350,000 came in at only $78,980.
“Last year we got word we may lose funding in the third year, so we saved $30,000. That $30,000 is part of the roughly $78,000 we have to operate this year,” said elementary school Principal Steve Bradley.
According to Mackey, the district is amending its federal funding and the money that will be saved throughout the summer for training and summer school will help pay for the Reading First program.
After receiving word that state funding was decreased and the district would be faced with faculty and staff position limitations as well as other cutbacks, letters were mailed to senators and assemblymen April 24.
“More devastating than the actual dollar figure, however, is the feeling of abandonment just as the children began showing some success” in the Reading First program, the letter stated. A graph detailing the students success was provided. The letter also asked each politician to offer one-time grants from their offices in support of UV.
Tracey Nicotera, the district’s Reading First coach, has been on board since the program was introduced. She said the three-tier curriculum has helped the student body meet its benchmarks as well as furthered the district’s effort in tracking and assessing students.
The first tier provides 90 minutes of an uninterrupted reading that focuses on a larger group of readers who are reading at benchmark level; the second tier follows the same approach of 90 minutes of reading with differentiated instruction with smaller groups; and the third tier is designed to help readers who have not made it to their benchmark goal.
“As students meet their goals, they are continuously progressing to the next level. We are better than where we were, but we’re not where we want to be,” Nicotera said.
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