29 teachers, 1 administrator to leave voluntarily

The contracts of four administrators were not renewed.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Responding to a request to make decisions early, 20 teachers and one assistant principal have told the Youngstown School District they will retire at the end of this school year.
Each of the teachers, who made official decisions by a Wednesday deadline, will receive a $1,000 bonus for the early notification under an agreement between the school board and the Youngstown Education Association, the teachers union.
The agreement was made as the district seeks to reduce its staff in the face of declining enrollment. Two elementary schools -- Bennett on the South Side and Martin Luther King Jr. on the North Side -- will close this year.
Besides the 21 retirements, an additional nine teachers have announced that they will resign at the end of this school year, said Germaine Bennett, executive director of human resources. The numbers mean that retirements and resignations will reduce staff by 29 teachers and one administrator -- Assistant Principal Barry Rose of Hillman Middle School.
The district is looking to cut a total of 40 to 50 positions, she said.
Meetings with staff and principals scheduled for next week will help determine changes that need to be made, she added. Those meetings will help determine what programs are needed for next year and where staff will be needed.
"We may have more positions free before I have to start the long list of layoffs," Bennett said.
Deadline looms
State law gives districts an April 30 deadline to notify teachers who are being laid off or whose contracts will not be renewed.
Bennett also said some positions might open as the district reconfigures its high schools.
The high schools, through a grant from the Cincinnati-based KnowledgeWorks Foundation, are being transformed to create three smaller school communities at Chaney High School and the new East High School, set to open in 2005.
As academic deans take their roles in that new configuration, Bennett said, more positions may open up.
The school board also voted this week not to renew the contracts of four administrators.
They are Sarah J. Bonaquist, Kirkmere Elementary School principal; John A. DiRenzo, assistant principal at Sheridan Elementary School; Yvonne Paul, Chaney High School assistant principal; and Daniel A. Smith, Rayen School assistant principal.
All four administrators had been rehired after retirements to fill staffing gaps, Bennett said. The district is the process of reducing the size of its administrative staff.