BATAVIA — Batavia City School District leaders will continue to look at a consultant’s recommendations for staffing in the schools. However, that is just one of the resources the district uses to study staffing, its superintendent says.
Consultant Dr. Thomas Ramming of International Deliverables, LLC, had given a report Monday night to the Board of Education, saying, in part, that he reviewed data and research in average class size, enrollment schedule, collective bargaining agreements and financial information. He said the district’s contract with the Batavia Teachers’ Association includes language on a teacher’s work day that can restrict district discretion in how it assigns teachers. Any contract wording that results in inefficiencies should be addressed through collective bargaining, Ramming said.
Superintendent Jason Smith said earlier this week in an email to The Daily News, “It is our practice to review possible staff-sharing options, and after seeing Dr. Ramming’s recommendation, we will continue to explore these opportunities,”
Smith said Ramming looked at our BTA Contract, current enrollment figures, and class sizes to come to the conclusions outlined in his report.
“As with any contract, there are parameters to how the work day is scheduled, including lunch and planning periods. BCSD develops schedules at each school that align with the language of the contract. There were no connections between last night’s (Monday’s) BTA agreement discussions and Dr. Ramming’s staffing report,” Smith said.
Ramming had said Batavia received American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to add teaching positions, even with enrollment decreasing.
“For ARPA, we received approval of $5,804,260 total to use from March 13, 2020 through Sept. 30, 2024. Most expenditures of the expense will occur over three fiscal school years 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24,” Smith said. “Along with ARPA, we have other grants that are funding various programs throughout BCSD — My Brother’s Keeper, extended-day programs, a new preschool grant, a new mental health grant that we recently announced. Through federal grants, we added around 10 positions that are designed to provide academic and social/emotional supports to our students, such as intervention teachers and social workers.”
The district’s current enrollment is around 2,200 students. In total enrollment, the district has seen a drop of about 58 students over the last five years, he said.
Ramming had said that typically, school psychologists’ assignments are determined by population, not by school. This is something Batavia should look at, he said.
“Our school psychologist assignments are reviewed and updated as needed depending on various needs at each school,” Smith said in the email. “Particular circumstances, including providing support to all parochial schools and the number of CPSE and CSE referrals, are considered when making these determinations.
“Dr. Ramming’s report is just one of the reference points BCSD is considering as we make future plans for staffing,” he said. “We look forward to continuing to analyze the findings outlined in his report and we have already started implementing some new and improved practices across the district.”
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