- April 26, 2024
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The Monday, March 7, workshop for the Flagler County School Board served as a brainstorming session on ways to decrease the school district’s budget.
Some reduction options discussed include downsizing the Pathways facilities, cutting middle- and high-school days from seven periods to six, print management and energy use.
Decreasing Pathways function could save the district $250,000, but it would involve cutting the number of enrolled students in the program to 75 (60 high school students and 15 middle school).
Reducing schedules from seven periods to six could save the county a combined $2.1 million, but it would mean limiting the options of courses for students.
It would also reduce the need for 42 teachers, most of which would have to be cut from arts and music courses. The board opposes that move.
The board also discussed cutting co-teachers from the payroll, moving overflow students into blended “multi-age” classrooms to meet the Class Size Amendment. This model has been tested in the past, namely in one K-1-2 classroom at Wadsworth Elementary.
“Multi-age” teachers would be expected to manage multiple curriculums.
“Everyone’s taking big hit,” Superintendant Janet Valentine said. “There’s no easy way to do this.” She added: “It’s going to take … chipping away (in) little bits not to tear down the whole system.”
Flagler Technical Institute to rework management
The School Board also met with the Adult Education Advisory Council in the workshop to discuss Flagler Technical Institute’s strategic plans and programs.
“The biggest problem I think we have is, what direction are we going in?” said Bob Nocella, FTI director. “What do you want from FTI?”
A majority of Monday’s workshop was spent analyzing figures of how FTI and its affiliates, Adult Education and Community Education, are managed. The School Board unanimously agreed that the programs’ management systems and staff need to be restructured.
“I can’t run FTI and … (the other organizations) at the same time,” Nocella said.
Nocella currently oversees seven program directors who supervise roughly 70 teachers, plus all staff from Belle Terre Swim and Racquet Club, the A1A Center, summer camp, extended day and other adult/community education programs.
“What we need is … a realignment of the chain of command,” board member John Fischer said.
Board member Andy Dance agreed. “We need to analyze positions and job descriptions against bylaws … and proposed structure,” he said.
But the change the board is looking for — making FTI an independently managed program — “can’t happen overnight,” School board Chairwoman Sue Dickinson said. “We need some more information before we can move forward.”
The board and advisory council will reconvene soon to continue discussions. Budget pending, FTI could be made independent by the end of the year, according to Dickinson.
