SHERBURNE – In lieu of an official meeting, members of the Sherburne-Earlville Central School Board of Education invited district administrators into small committees Monday evening in order to discuss administrative structure.
Superintendent Gayle Hellert pre-empted the discussions by asking both groups to better understand how the structure is currently working, what it was in the past, why it was changed, and what has been the impact of the change.
“The intent of the discussion is to brainstorm, not to pass judgment on anything. Do what’s best for us at Sherburne-Earlville to meet our initiatives and support the success of the students,” she said.
Assistant Superintendent Thomas Strain reviewed the numbers of students, teachers and support staff and the costs associated with each. There are 1,515 students, 186 teachers and 147 support staff. District taxpayers afford $9 million for teaching salaries, $2 to $2.5 million for support staff salaries and $675,000 for administrative salaries.
“We are not looking at saving money, necessarily,” Strain said. “The administrative cost isn’t where the big bucks are.”
The New York State Department of Education mandates that each district have a superintendent and each school building, a principal. The Sherburne-Earlville Central School District currently has a superintendent and an assistant superintendent and each building has a principal and an assistant principal. There is also a director of instructional technology, a director of special education, and an athletic director, none of which are mandated.
Strain said the board ended the two-hour meeting with a better understanding of the responsibilities of the administrators.
“They asked the administrators to quantify the time spent providing data to the state that is required, but not necessarily related to the academic program or student learning. State reporting requirements have increased exponentially. Academic requirements and student evaluations are far different than they were even a few years ago,” he said.