School Board to Vote on Replacing Retiring Teachers

At the March 27 school board meeting, Saucon Valley superintendent Sandra Fellin discussed five different positions within the district that could potentially be eliminated for the 2012-2013 school year.

At a recent board meeting, about what would happen if she did not replace all of the district's retiring teachers, as she had originally planned to do.

Fellin said she may not have to replace a retiring kindergarten teacher because enrollment numbers for next year are lower than usual.

She said the impact on the district would be that they would need to hire a teacher in the future if enrollment increases.

She also said she could avoid replacing a retiring sixth grade teacher because the sixth grade enrollment is also lower for next year.

This would increase the class size to about 22 or 23 students per section. In addition, this would eliminate a remedial section for student support.

Fellin discussed not rehiring a teacher for grade four, which would increase class size to 24 or 25 students. This would also not allow for co-taught classrooms due to the number of students.

As for first grade, Fellin said not replacing a retiring teacher would increase class size to at least 24 students. She said class size could be even larger, because 10 students are usually enrolled later. This is also above district guidelines for number of students in first grade.

School board vice president Susan Baxter said she does not feel that first grade students would be greatly affected by increased class sizes of about three students per class.

"I respectfully disagree that no harm is done by not replacing a first grade teacher," said board member Sandra Miller, in response. "You cannot recapture a first grade year."

Lastly, Fellin discussed one part-time teacher reduction that could result from eliminating the German program.

A concerned resident and a student both spoke and asked the board not to take away the program.

They said that German is prevalent in this area, and useful in the business world. 

Fellin told the board that if all of the positions discussed were left unfilled, the district would save $294,540 (including benefits).

"The things I like about this, (are) that we aren't hurting anybody's home or taking anybody's pay away," said board member Bryan Eichfeld. "It's not irreversible. There is an eraser on this pencil. We can hire these teachers if we need them."

"I would never support cutting teachers, ever," said Miller.

A vote will be taken on this matter at the board's April 10 meeting.