Foxborough School Officials Defend Staffing Levels

FOXBOROUGH, MA — It’s budget season and that usually means questions about staffing levels compared to enrollment at the Foxborough Public Schools. While staff is up in the face of declining enrollment, there are fewer teaching positions since the 2005 enrollment peak, Business Administrator Bill Yukna told the school committee Monday night.

“The comment that’s been out there and is inaccurate, is that during this time frame, the school committee made no changes relative to enrollment. The reality is we’ve dropped 12.6 teaching positions in K-12,” Yukna said.

The decrease in teaching positions is consistent with enrollment, which has gone down since hitting a high of 3,005 in October 2005. Staff, however, remains up for multiple reasons.

Yukna cited a need for more teachers in the full-day kindergarten program, an increase in special needs staff, and the restoration of the high school guidance program that was gutted years ago as some of the reasons for the higher levels of staff.

On the technology front, the school department has operated both their own and the town’s tech operations, essentially running two data centers, 2,000 computers, and at least a dozens servers, Yukna said.

“That’s a key thing. It’s a cost saving but when you see an increase in positions, they sit on our side,” Superintendent Debra Spinelli said.

School committee members also defended the staffing levels at the schools.

“I sat through all the budget discussion, I know each and everyone one of these positions were discussed and debated,” committee Chairperson Tina Belanger said. “It is helpful to understand what’s happened over the past 10 years and it’s been supported by the community.”

Residents will have a chance to discuss and debate the budget this spring at the Annual Town Meeting.

Image: File photo