Schools trimming administration

Kalispell Public Schools is tightening its proverbial belt, and more than one position likely will be lost as the district cinches its waistline.

The board of trustees eliminated one administrative position Tuesday night, and a second either will be cut or given additional duties.

The school district is looking at a possible $1.1 million budget shortfall next year.

At its regular meeting Tuesday, the board of trustees approved a new administrative organizational chart, which effectively eliminated the heads of the finance department and the operations department. According to the new chart, the finance and operations departments would report to a single operations director.

The move eliminates the facilities and transportation director position, held now by Chuck Cassidy.

It also may eliminate the finance director position, held by Todd Watkins.

The reorganization takes effect July 1, but the district will feel its effects before that.

Cassidy, who has been the facilities and transportation department director since 2004, will be out of a job this spring.

His position, as well as the operation of the facilities department, has been under scrutiny for the last several months.

In June, the board asked a committee to review the department to determine whether its blend of in-house and contracted services was the best use of the school district’s dollars. The committee, made up of district staff, trustees and community members, presented recommendations to the board at a work session in November.

Superintendent Darlene Schottle used the committee’s recommendations to create a reorganized management structure, which consolidates the departments under three directors who will report to the superintendent. Assistant Superintendent Dan Zorn will head curriculum- and instruction-related programs and Karen Glasser will continue to head up the human resources department.

Those positions have not changed under the new structure, Glasser said Wednesday.

The big changes occur under the banner of “operations.” Finance, including purchasing, payroll and budgets, and operations, including food services, maintenance and transportation, will report to an as-yet-undetermined operations director.

The reorganization wasn’t a surprise to Cassidy.

“In the facilities business, you generally come to help people do what it is you do, whether it’s facilities and grounds, custodial, maintenance,” he said. “It gets to the point where they don’t need you.”

The board in June approved a seven-month contract with Cassidy, which expires Jan. 14. On Tuesday the board extended the contract for an additional 90 days so Cassidy can assist with transitional and legal issues, Schottle said.

Watkins’ future is less certain than Cassidy’s. His contract expires June 30, and the district has not yet decided how to handle the operations director position.

“It could go one of two ways,” Glasser said. “We can eliminate Todd’s position like we did with Chuck’s and post it as a new position, or we can modify his current contract.”

The operations director would be responsible for the same duties Watkins currently is in charge of, but would have additional duties in overseeing the operations department, Glasser explained.

Watkins’ isn’t the only uncertain position in the district.

Up to three additional jobs in the facilities department could be eliminated while the district reorganizes under the new structure. Those cuts have not yet been made.

“There certainly could be reductions,” Schottle said Wednesday. “It’s similar to the story from the city of Kalispell, [which will lay off assistant fire chief DC Haas in January]. We have to look at staffing reductions as one of the options when we have budget restraints.”

According to early estimates by Watkins, who puts together the district’s budget, Kalispell Public Schools’ elementary district faces a $788,000 shortfall in next year’s general fund budget. The high school general fund will be short about $358,000.

To make up the difference, the district may have to ask voters to approve a levy, but first trustees and school officials are looking at areas they can trim or cut back.

The board voted 9-1 in favor of reorganizing the facilities department, board chairwoman Anna Marie Bailey said Wednesday. Trustee Eve Dixon,  a member of the committee that scrutinized the facilities department, was absent.

Trustee John Osweiler was the lone dissenting vote; he said Wednesday that he didn’t think the board had enough information to take immediate action.

“I asked if we could postpone it a week,” he said, explaining that he had wanted to see the specific financial implications of eliminating Cassidy’s position and up to three more facilities jobs.

Eliminating Cassidy’s position and up to three others could save the district up to $200,000, according to an estimate Schottle gave the board Tuesday.

Cassidy’s salary this year is about $74,900, less than half of which comes from the general fund budget. The rest comes from the elementary and high school transportation budgets.

Watkins’ salary this year is about $91,900, $83,400 of which comes from the general fund budget. Transportation funds round out the rest of his salary.

Cassidy on Wednesday reflected on his five years with the Kalispell district.

“We’ve had a lot of successes under our belts,” he said.

Among those successes, he said, were remodeling and expansion projects at Flathead High School and Kalispell Middle School and building Glacier High School. Cassidy also helped get Glacier’s biomass boiler running and helped the district modernize its equipment fleet.

“I feel very fortunate to be a part of that process. We have a lot of good success stories here,” he said.

The facilities department is only the first the district has taken a careful look at, Bailey said.

“It’s only the first department we’ve looked at as far as making any changes,” she said. “There could be [an organizational] chart in progress as we go to other departments.”

Board members also have been looking at the activities director positions at Flathead and Glacier high schools this fall. Many districts with multiple high schools, including Helena and Great Falls, have one activities director overseeing athletics and activities for the entire district.

No such recommendation has yet been made in Kalispell Public Schools, but Bailey said the board will continue to look at the activities director positions, as well as other departments in the district.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com