The Daniel Boone School Board approved 5-3 on Aug. 24 to hire 2.5 elementary teachers to lower class sizes.
Acting Superintendent Robert Hurley said the current first and third grade enrollment at Monocacy Elementary Center (MEC) exceeds the district’s class size policy.
Board members Andrew Basile, Carol Beitz, and Tamara Twardowski opposed the motion.
Member Larry Speed was absent from the meeting.
Curriculum and Instruction Committee Chairman Connor Kurtz said the board should bring the class sizes within the district’s guidelines by hiring 2.5 teachers.
The re-hires will lower the first grade classes from 24.2 students to 20.7, and lower the third grade from 24.3 to 20.9 students.
It also lowers kindergarten class sizes by two students.
“We have the guidelines for a reason,” said Kurtz, adding, “We have to make sure staffing can accommodate those ranges. We need to bring these people back to meet policy.”
The board voted 7-2 on June 22 to eliminate five elementary teachers, one Daniel Boone Middle School teaching position, and one High School teaching position due to a “substantial decrease in pupil enrollment.”
Some board members questioned the veracity of the district’s projected enrollment data and the wisdom of seven furloughs.
The June 22 vote included the codicil for district administration to look at enrollment by Aug. 7, with consideration to the seven eliminated positions, and present that information to the board for its Aug. 10 Committee of the Whole meeting.
If enrollment exceeded the current projected amount for 2015-16, board members said they would consider reinstating some positions.
The board unanimously approved on Aug. 10 to recall two of the three High School teachers that had retired at the end of the 2014-15 school year.
Robert Shannon was unanimously approved as the district’s new director of Athletics and Activities, at an annual salary of $60,000 and retroactive to Aug. 11.
Representatives of Nutrition Group, Inc., York, the district’s new food services company, said new food programs will be implemented, including “Wellness Wednesdays,” which will encourage students to try new fruits and vegetables, “Farm to Fork” with locally grown food, monthly international foods, and a “recipe of the month.”
The company will also update the board monthly on ala carte sales, the number of free and reduced lunches, employee trainings, and more.
“Nutrition Group offered jobs to all former cafeteria workers and most are now working for them,” said board President Richard Martino.
He said at the beginning of the meeting that the board will not respond in any way to the anonymous letters it receives, and indicating about a half dozen recently received.
“We will not address them and we will not deal with them,” said Martino.