VIRGINIA — Rock Ridge delayed voting on 16 staff cuts Monday, March 31, pushing a decision back to its next regular meeting on April 14.
The agenda for Monday’s special meeting was posted prior to a Friday working session, when board members requested the entirety of budget cuts be on the table. Since it was a special meeting, as opposed to a regular one, the agenda could not be changed after it was posted.
“I thought when we left last Friday, it was supposed to be all of it, and non-staff cuts would be on the agenda,” said Director Jennifer Bonner. “That’s not what we have tonight.”
Directors asked Superintendent Dr. Noel Schmidt to bring any more areas they could look at for reductions, including the numbers of sports programs at Rock Ridge.
Leaving Friday, the board had expressed interest in addressing non-staff cuts including software and moving K-8 sports under the Community Education umbrella.
Multiple directors said the perception was teachers were being put at the forefront of the budget cuts, and not administration or non-staff items.
“There’s other positions we need to be looking at,” said Director Brandi Lautigar.
The board heard about a half-hour of public comments from teachers, former teachers, students and community members.
Shane Wetzel, a seventh-grade science teacher on the cut list, said some of his students have shared a TikTok petition about saving staff jobs.
He teaches 168 students, and since appearing on the board agenda, has had students from the last two years coming to his classroom to talk about it.
“It’s teachers like me that keep our kids here,” he said. “You have a choice. You have a lot of discretion.”
Troy Caddy, a STEAM teacher, said over four years, the district has cut 42.5 full-time employees from the teachers union. In one class, he teaches 37 eighth graders how to wire electrical outlets and lights, a tall task to get to each one on one.
Caddy said the reality of average class sizes was “never going to be our reality,” and encouraged the board to look elsewhere in the budget.
“Great, we’re going to save more administration positions,” he said. “I don’t want to be here next year. I don’t want to do this again next year … until you figure out the budget, quit wasting damn money. “
