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Liberty school board offers employee retirement incentives
LIBERTY
The Liberty school board is offering an incentive for the Liberty Association of School Employees to retire after this school year.
The incentive for teachers to retire ranges from $10,000 for a person with 20 years or more of experience to $12,500 to a person with 28 years of more of experience.
The incentive for nonteachers to retire ranges from $6,657 for a person with 10 years of experience to $7,925 for a person with 20 years or more of experience.
Barb DePasqua, seventh-grade social studies teacher, will retire from her position effective May 31. More staff may announce their retirement for the incentives at the next school board meeting, said district Treasurer Bradley Panak.
Also at the board meeting this week, the board approved a resolution to re-configure the building grade levels and special-education programs.
In fall 2018-19, students in preschool through sixth grade will be housed in the E.J. Blott Elementary and Guy Middle School buildings, which are attached, and students in seventh through 12th grade will be housed at the high school.
Seventh and eighth grades will be considered junior high, and will have its own principal, said board president Calvin Jones.
Having those students at the high school will allow them to take the same science, technology, engineering and mathematics classes as upperclassmen. Superintendent Joseph Nohra said this helps prepare junior-high students for the future.
The Trumbull County Educational Services Center will still provide special-education services for Liberty students, but more special-ed classes will be housed at the district, Jones said.
“Our buildings were underutilized because of a decrease in student population, so by bringing some of the special-education modules in the district, we can increase the efficiency and utilization of our building space,” Jones said. “Our idea is to educate as many of our residential students in our buildings as we can.”
Jessica Kohler, the special-education supervisor, will become a K-6 principal effective July 1. Mike Palmer, the former elementary school principal, will be the junior-high principal.
Board members may introduce a revised version of the open-enrollment resolution at its June 25 meeting.