Despite the hesitancy of some board members, officials have received the nod to fill vacant assistant principal positions at several Oswego Community Unit School District 308 elementary schools.
Because of some shuffling around the district, a total of 1.65 positions needed to be filled, which include one person to share assistant principal duties between and elementary schools, a part-time assistant principal at , and a full-time position at .
A few months ago, board members asked District 308 administrators to put a hold on filling those positions until they had a better idea of what funding could be expected from the state.
Tim Neubauer, assistant superintendent for business and finance, told school board members at the June 13 meeting he is “guardedly optimistic” when it comes to state funding.
“We have been preparing for the worst and hoping for the best,” he said. “But we’ll make it work, whatever it is.”
He said there has been some indication from State Rep. Tom Cross (R-Oswego) that funding could be headed District 308’s way.
“That’s by no means a promise or anything we can rely on right now, but it is cause for guarded optimism,” he said.
Before a consensus was taken at the June 13 meeting on the hirings, District 308 Supt. Dan O'Donnell urged board members to OK filling the positions.
“We’re losing good candidates,” he said. “That’s my concern. We can’t wait until the last minute.”
However, board member Allison Swanson balked at that.
“In this job market we’re not going to lose a lot of candidates,” she said.
Initially some board members said they needed more financial information before allowing the administration to fill the positions. Other board members suggested hiring more assistant principals for the district’s schools.
Board member Lynn Cullick said it was important to fill the open positions as soon as possible.
“I think we shouldn’t have waited until now to make this decision,” she said. “I don’t understand why we would leave our buildings with inadequate coverage. These people need to know, even if it’s bad news. We can’t just put these things on eternal hold.”
Board member Brent Lightfoot said he disagreed with moving forward on filling the positions.
“I’m fearful we get into a situation where we need to reallocate Aug. 1 and put more teachers in the classroom, which I’m all for, so I take the cautious approach here,” he said. “But it sounds like the majority says move forward, so let’s move forward.”
School officials filled the Churchill position and Hunt Club/Old Post positions at the June 27 meeting. The Prairie Point position is expected to be filled in July.
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