Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District’s Governing Board meeting March 6 saw a packed house as parents and teachers came to share students’ accomplishments, as well as weigh in on the district’s proposed realignment.
While no one has spoken out against Cottonwood-Oak Creek School District’s proposal to realign three of its schools to two kindergarten- through eighth-grade campuses, stakeholders are running into disagreements over how it should be done.
Ten people came forward during the meeting’s call to the public to express their support of the realignment and their opinions on Superintendent Steve King’s proposed model of multiple administrators at both sites.
The teachers who spoke overwhelmingly supported having coprincipals at Dr. Daniel Bright School and a principal and assistant principal at the to-be-named realigned Cottonwood Middle School campus. Several parents who spoke also expressed similar sentiments.
“With the upcoming transition of restructuring three campuses to two K-8s, it is crucial that our students, parents and teachers get the full support that they deserve and have two administrators on each campus,” said Sara Bowers, a sixthgrade teacher at Cottonwood Middle School.
One pair, Michelle Stadelman and Rudy Stadelman, supported one full-time principal at each site and urged the Governing Board to choose the most fiscally responsible option moving forward.
The board itself is split on the issue: During a work session Feb. 20, board member Jason Finger said the district could save money by staffing one administrator at each site — effectively freeing up funds to raise teachers’ salaries.
“There should be dollar savings on closing a campus,” Finger said during the Feb. 20 work session, which he repeated during the March 6 meeting. “I’m not seeing that. Those dollars, I want to put in teacher’s pockets. They deserve it.”
Board President JoAnne Cook echoed Finger’s sentiments, saying when the realignment proposal was brought to the board, she understood it was a matter of efficiency, and “when I hear efficiency, I think dollars,” she said.
“Looking at getting healthy, getting fit — that’s what I feel like we could do with our district. Running lean and being fit and taking care of our own body doesn’t mean that we are going to be weaker — we’re going to be stronger,” Cook said. “We’re not trying to take anything away from staff. We’re not trying to take supports away. We are going to do what we can to increase salaries, and I believe that we can run lean.”
Another consideration is the district’s proposed consolidation with Mingus Union High School District. Finger, a member of the consolidation fact-finding committee, shared that a current sticking point is raising COCSD teacher salaries so they are equitable with MUHSD teacher salaries.
“Savings in realignment can go a long way to help that,” he said.
Meanwhile, board members Mary Valenzuela, Eric Marcus and Janice Rollins support having multiple administrators at each campus.
Rollins brought up how during budget problems in the past, teachers have opted to save benefits for their students rather than take salary increases.
“I have to hand it to our teachers: Instead of cutting programs, instead of cutting things that benefited kids, they opted not to take higher salaries,” she said.
With the board divided, Cook asked King to put together alternative administrative models that would increase the district’s savings. They’ll discuss these other models during a work session yet to be scheduled.
The board also directed King to send a brief survey to district staff to determine their feelings on the issue.
Rebekah Wahlberg can be reached at 282-7795 ext. 117, or email
rwahlberg@larsonnewspapers.com
