SCHOOLS Salem administrators start work on eliminating 20-plus teachers

Officials may look at a neighborhood school concept.
SALEM -- School administrators have begun the task of deciding how to eliminate more than 20 teachers to help cope with a projected $1.2 million deficit in the district's 2005-06 budget.
But they are not ready to say who might be eliminated or when the cuts may come.
"We are working on a reduction plan. We are brainstorming methods that would have the least impact on students," schools Superintendent Dr. David Brobeck said.
"It's premature to go into much depth."
However, Brobeck said he expects to be ready to present a preliminary plan to the board of education by the end of the month and a more definite plan in April. The board's next meeting is set for 7 p.m. March 29 in the district's central office on Cleveland Street.
The district was faced with closing one of its four elementary schools and its middle school to eliminate the anticipated shortfall, but the board opted last week to lay off some teachers by not renewing their contracts.
Brobeck has estimated the cutback will involve from 22 to 25 personnel, with two of them being nonteaching employees.
Other options
Regarding the pending layoffs, Marguerite Miller, board president, has said they should be spread out among the district's six schools, though staffing decisions will be made by the superintendent and the principals.
Even so, Miller said, "There's no absolute direction at the moment. There are many things to look at, such as possible cuts in programs at the high school."
She has discussed the possibility of moving toward a "neighborhood school" concept involving schools with kindergarten through sixth grade before pupils move on to middle and high school.
The district now has two kindergarten-through-third-grade schools and two schools for grades 4-6.
Brobeck, however, said the option to change to schools for kindergarten through sixth grade is not being considered at this time because the emphasis is on keeping all of the district's six schools open.
While the layoffs and the deficit have drawn a lot of attention, Miller said finding a replacement for Brobeck, who will retire in July, is the most important task now before the board. After a search, the board is left with one finalist, Steve Larcomb, who quit his job in Wyoming to move back to Ohio. Larcomb will arrive for a second interview with the board Wednesday.
"We are faced with deciding whether to offer him the job or to extend the search," Miller said. The board has not yet scheduled a meeting on the matter, she added.