Photo: Middletown School Board from Left to Right: Chris Fiora, Katie McNeil, Greg Tyus, Marcia Andrew and John Sauter
by Debbie Alberico
The district will start the 2011 – 12 school year with a savings of $5 million. A total of 65 teaching, administrative, and support staff positions that fell victim to budget reductions. Verity Middle School was closed; all seventh and eighth grade students will go to Middletown Middle School. Highview Elementary School students were disbursed to other area elementary schools. The building is being repurposed to be the Highview 6th Grade Center which will house all sixth grade students and staff. Other reductions in budget Include: fifty-five employees who participated in an early retirement incentive program. Another 27 employees retired without incentives. And the district has agreed to outsource transportation services.
At last night’s Board of Education meeting, 27 teacher positions were abolished. The district has been eliminating administrative and support staff positions since March. Last night was the final round of position reductions for this year.
The Board of Education and the Middletown Teachers Association have tentatively agreed to a three year contract that includes a 1% decrease in pay for teachers and administrators for each of the first two years.
The agreement also increases teacher’s cost of health care by 5% the first year and another 5% in the third year of the contract. By the end of the three years, the district will save another $4.1 million because of this agreement.
“Our employees have gone above and beyond the call of duty. On behalf of the board of education I commend them for their dedication and commitment to the Middletown community. At the end of the three year contract, the district will have saved $4.1 million. This will allow the district to continue best practices for our students,” said Superintendent Greg Rasmussen
