Mahomet-Seymour calls off hiring freeze, letters paint picture of what freeze would mean for district

The Mahomet-Seymour School Board came out of closed session Monday with a decision regarding previous discussions about a hiring freeze:

“Based on our closed session input (and) discussions tonight, we’re going to move forward with replacing current open positions and we’re going to move forward with the new positions that we discussed and approved in March, and at this time, there will be no hiring freeze and there will be no change in direction on hiring and staffing at this time,” said school board president Max McComb.

The board went into closed session after hearing from Chief Business Officer Heather Smith regarding what a downturn in funding from multiple sources might look like. Smith’s spending projections included only the “essentials” of what the district would need to cover in the upcoming months: salaries and benefits, including increases of contracted employees from the 2019-20 school year, but not including any new hires for the 2020-21 school year, utilities and current contracts and everyday repair material, 70-percent of FY 20 budgeted supplies in both Ed and O&M, technology and tuition for special education.

The total expenditures came to $24.8 million per year. 

Smith did not include money from the federal government. She said districts continued to receive the Title money in 2008, and she expects that to happen again in the upcoming years. The bare bones spending projected also did not include the expenses that come from money provided by the federal government. 

Smith’s “worst-case” scenario included a 20-percent reduction in state and property tax funding, which would leave the district with $22 million per year. She said that the district would use reserves, which include a projected $6.1 million of combined operating funds and working cash ($3.1 million), to get through for two years. 

The same scenario with a 15-percent reduction of revenues would leave the district using the $6.1 million for 3.5 years, whereas a 10-percent reduction in revenues would cause no deficit in the current year, and according to Smith’s models, the district would cause no deficit in the district’s minimum expenses. 

On March 9, the Board of Education approved new positions including: a Special Education case manager at Middletown Prairie Elementary (already filled), a Special Education case manager at Mahomet-Seymour HS, a French/Spanish Teacher at Mahomet-Seymour HS, a teacher at Mahomet-Seymour Jr. HS, a teacher at Mahomet-Seymour Jr. HS, a second grade at Middletown Prairie Elementary, a fourth Specials Teacher at LT (already filled).

The district will also need to fill positions of teachers who have retired or will leave their position. Those include: a first grade teacher at Middletown Prairie, an Interventionist at Middletown, a fourth grade teacher at Lincoln Trail (already filled), a PE teacher at Lincoln Trail (already filled), a Special Ed at Lincoln Trail (already filled—new in 2019, not filled this school year), a Special ed at Lincoln Trail (already filled—due to resignation, not filled this school year), Language Arts at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High, Special Ed teacher at Junior High, two PE teachers at Junior High, a Math teacher at Mahomet-Seymour High School (already filled) and three special ed positions at the high School (two positions are filled) and PE at the High School (already filled).

Smith also went over projections of reduced sales tax in the upcoming months. The district relies on $600,000 of monthly sales tax money to pay bonds for building projects and renovations throughout the district. 

The cost of bonds in FY 2021 will be $400k per month. Smith’s “worst-case” scenario of a 20-percent decrease in sales tax dollars will leave the district with $500k per month. A 10-percent decrease will result in the district receiving $560k in one-percent sales tax funds.

Groceries, medicine, vehicles, mobile homes, ATV’s/RV’s, seed, gas, fertilizer and farm equipment are exempt from sales tax.

Since 2007, 54 of the 102 counties throughout the State of Illinois have enlisted a one-percent sales tax to fund things like paying off school facility debt to reduce property tax, to build new schools or to renovate facilities.

Concerns related to the district’s financial outlook among news that Illinois has experienced 650,000 new jobless claims since March 1 and that the state is expected to lose $7 billion in revenues over the next two years prompted board members Merle Giles, Meghan Hennesy, Ken Keefe and Colleen Schultz to pursue a discussion on a hiring freeze.

Prior to going into closed session, McComb said that shuffling district employees around would not be a wise decision.

“We don’t know what the financial impact of the virus situation is going to be for sure; everyone’s got theories at this point,” he said. “We’ve got very little concrete information.

“We do know the impact of higher class size, we know what that is.

“We talk about shuffling people, where would we shuffle people from?” McComb asked. “People think, well maybe we can do with one or two less administrators. But frankly, we run with fewer administrators than most districts are trying to do.

“I sure would hate to cut back communication with parents or administer services to kids or put ourselves in legal jeopardy.

“The other places people would probably want to look, I’m assuming, are the instructional coaches because they don’t teach classes.

“But there’s lots of data right now that instructural coaches hav more impact on education than class size. Frankly, we run with two; best practices for a district our sizes tells us we should be closer to twelve.”

McComb said the district will probably never get to 12, but, “our kids and teachers are better because we have them in place.”

The remote meeting opened with Dawn Quinley, Administrative Assistant to the Superintendent, reading over a dozen letters from concerned citizens, including the Mahomet-Seymour Education Association.

“As professional educators, we pride ourselves to do the absolute best to educate the students of Mahomet-Seymour,” the statement continued. “Currently, Mahomet-Seymour has over 15 certified positions open, ranging from first grade to high school, and spans across almost all content areas.

“By instituting a hiring freeze, even a temporary one, the school board is jeopardizing the chances of hiring the most quality teachers in these positions,” the MSEA stated. “We understand the school board has good fiscal intentions in mind, but the longer the district waits to hire educators, it will have drastic effects on the students and student achievement.”

Other letters echoed the MSEA’s sentiments, opposing the hiring freeze in fears that class sizes would increase, that teachers would be overextended upon the return of in-person school and that special education needs would not be legally met.

Many of the letters focused on asking the board to lean on the advice of Superintendent Lindsey Hall during the upcoming months. 

“We need to lean upon those who have experienced difficult situations such as these, and take their advice on how to handle the situation,” Lauren Crider said. “Dr. Hall has experience at helping districts through difficult times. And I feel the board should be looking to her for guidance and following her recommendations.”

Erin Kessler said that “students are already starting the next school year at a disadvantage, due to the abrupt interruption in this year’s schedule due to COVID-19. Although the teachers have provided instructional materials and learning resources for parents, for which I am extremely grateful, it is not the same as the classroom environment. Many students will not make the same academic progress that the classroom setting provides, such as prompt teacher feedback, motivation and face-to-face interaction with teachers and other students. It is a sad reality that more students than ever before, will likely be starting a new school year, at a major deficit.”

Katie Stafford, along with other speakers, said that the decision made Monday could also have lasting effects on students’ education. 

“I’m very concerned that this board is overreacting and is going to make decisions based on fear that will have lasting impacts on our children’s education; a pre-emptive hiring freeze seems unnecessary with the current information available to you.”

Kessler added, “I’m sure you are aware that research points to small classroom size benefits such as teacher interaction, student engagement, student achievement or customized instruction, earlier identification of disadvantaged students or meaningful collaboration with students, in-depth instructions, better classroom management, increased graduation rates and teacher retention. It is clear that the benefits are applicable to all levels of learning, and these numerous benefits should help you and the board realize that before making this decision it is necessary to explore all other avenues of cost reduction. An extreme action such as a hiring freeze should be considered as a last resort, not the first line of defense.”

Crider also talked about how the hiring freeze might affect the class size of her child’s kindergarten class.

“I am very concerned about this hiring freeze, as it would most likely directly impact my child negatively. I am sure you can recall that just last August, an additional kindergarten teacher had to be hired to accommodate all of the students enrolled. There are currently 12 kindergarten teachers, and only 11 first grade teachers, meaning that next year my child’s class size, could go from 21 to 23 to 27 students, depending on new enrollments. 

“Having 21 students in a classroom is already too many for one teacher to be handling this age group. Why would they increase the class size? 

“Additionally, the school district currently does not have enough bus drivers to run all of their routes. If you place a hiring freeze, no additional bus drivers are able to be hired, and therefore routes, may have to be combined. 

“My son already spends 40 minutes on the bus in the morning, and an hour on the bus in the afternoon. Increasing that amount of time to be inconvenient will take away from valuable family time, as well as increased stress for trying to fit in homework.”

Other letters from teachers and parents within the Mahomet-Seymour School District talked about what a hiring freeze would really mean with the day-to-day of operations. 

Fifth-grade teacher Polly McCoy said that she has consistently had 27 students in her class and this year she has 28. 

She said, “this many students in a classroom presents many challenges and restricts physical space, the time and the ability to adequately meet students’ individual needs and getting to know students’ strengths and weaknesses on an individualized level, just to mention a few.” 

Lisa Frerichs wrote that two classes she subs for at Mahomet-Seymour Junior High School have 34 and 36 students.

“Currently kids are sitting on top of each other, which promotes a few behavioral issues,” she said. “Creating a freeze anytime is disrespectful to our current teachers who are already shuffling to cover open spots on a daily basis. Giving up their planning time means they don’t have a proper time frame to collaborate with their team to properly provide instruction, creates burnout and takes away availability for students to get help during their study hall.”

She also said that the district already has trouble finding substitute teachers.

“When spots aren’t filled, permanent teachers need to adjust their schedules and fill in during planning periods for those open classes,” she wrote. “The junior high and high school also used teachers as lunch staff instead of hiring specific lunch.”

Mahomet-Seymour High School special education teacher Garrett Risley said that the freezing hire would put additional pressure on a staff that wants to meet the needs of its students.

“There are students with special needs who are wanting to and taking electives, but are not receiving in-class support from a certified special ed teacher for the lack of coverage,” Risley said. “We currently have a special education teacher covering two high-level positions, in hopes that one would have been filled for the ’19-20 school year, let alone the ’20-21 school year, on top of another position that will be open from a retiree. 

“We are aware that some of the above mentioned already does not fit under the umbrella of best practice, but we’ve made due with what we have because that’s been our only option while we’ve awaited new hires. And losing yet another special ed teacher this year, we need to fill multiple positions in order to legally provide the students with an appropriate education and to provide them with the educational experience that’s close to being on par with the standard Mahomet-Seymour has set for many years prior.” 

Hall said in an email interview that special education positions have been open at Lincoln Trail and Mahomet-Seymour High School all year. 

She added that the district is concerned about the classroom numbers throughout the Mahomet-Seymour School District, and that is why they proposed new hires at the March 9, 2020 board meeting, which were approved by the board at that time.

“We can always use more, but are trying to operate within our means,” Hall said.

“We cannot add every position we want to add or need.  I have stated multiple times in board meetings that the new positions for next year are the barebones minimum based upon our financial health.”