Superintendent: Expect to See a Smaller Central Office Staff

The Racine Unified School District’s central office staff will be shrinking as district officials work to overcome an expected “$7 million problem,” said RUSD Superintendent Dr. Jim Shaw.

 “We’re probably going to have to reduce the amount of staff in central office. To that end, we will be presenting a central office reorganization plan to the (School) Board,” Shaw said that Monday’s School Board meeting. “We want to keep these cuts away from the school as best we can, so that’s why we’ll be starting with the central office.”

About 250 employees are assigned to RUSD’s central office—known formally as the Administrative Service Center—although not all are based at 2220 Northwestern Ave. They include administrators, specialists and support staff.

RUSD officials are expecting a budget shortfall for 2011-12 because of reduced taxing authority required by the governor’s proposed state budget and cuts in the state aid related to poverty programs, special education and charter school reimbursements.

The district had initially expected a $25 million budget deficit, but trimmed that by about $19 million through wage and benefits concessions from its six employee unions.

Despite the intent to cut central office costs, Shaw cautioned that the district might still have to make cuts at the classroom level.

“It may be inevitable that we’ll have to decrease teaching staff and increase class size in some instances,” he said.

In other business Monday, the School Board approved two contracts related to the new Administrative Service Center, being assembled at the former Surgitek complex on Mount Pleasant Street.

The Board awarded:

• a $359,852 contract to Great Lakes Electrical to construct a new server room to house the district’s computer servers, telephone system, backup generator and uninterruptable power supply system.  The project is on a fast track so the systems can be moved during the district’s spring break, April 25-29. Although the low bid topped the project’s $250,000 estimate, Frank Jarosz, RUSD facilities management director, said he is already working with the contractor to bring down the project’s costs.
• A $226,000 contract to Nations Roofing to replace the roof on the new Administrative Service Center complex’s largest building. All seven bidders for that project submitted bids below the $250,000 estimate.

And the Board agreed to:

• Spend $287,000 to purchase 300 additional wireless access points for the schools. The Cisco wireless equipment will join about 1,000 wireless access points that were installed over the summer and improve connections for laptop computers, phones and electronic notepads. The money comes from a legal settlement that Microsoft has paid to Wisconsin’s public schools.