Saugus schools fund positions; Waybright principal, elementary computer teachers sought

SAUGUS-Superintendent Richard Langlois has been busy since he came on board last month in part looking for new personnel.Along with shopping for a new Waybright principal, Langlois told the School Committee Thursday he is also looking to hire two elementary school teachers and a computer coordinator specifically to manage the department’s X2 program.Langlois is funding the positions through line item transfers to the tune of $152,000, mostly from the Special Education tuition line.Langlois said keeping class sizes low, particularly in the primary grades is important. Classes in the first, second and third grades are pushing 30 students in some instances, and hovering around 27 in others.”I think parents would approve of classes of 20 or 22 students,” he said. “We’re trying to do it without moving district lines.”With $92,000 earmarked for the plan, Langlois said he is hoping to hire two new teachers by the next week. How the new class configurations will play out is unknown. He said he would look at the pool of teachers once he makes his hires and then make assignments.”We’ll put the best players where they can be most successful,” he said.Langlois is also in the hunt for a database manager to undertake the humungous task of maintaining the departments X2 computer program. The program is designed to manage all student information from grades and attendance to records and guidance data. It is also used to track staff information as well.The program was purchased a year ago, but Langlois said it is just now being fully implemented. He praised the teachers and staff for embracing the program, many to the point where they volunteered to come in on their own time for training.Langlois said the program is needed to bring the district into compliance with the state and the coordinator would also be responsible for filing regular reports with the Department of Education.School Committee member Rick Doucette reminded his colleagues that former Superintendent Keith Manville had repeatedly put the same position into the budget and each year it was cut due to budget concerns.”This is a really important position for us to maintain compliance with the state,” he said.The committee approved the transfers to fund the new positions in a 5-0 vote Thursday.As for replacing McKay, Langlois said he would meet with Veterans School Principal Uri Harel, Waybright staffers and parents Tuesday to review candidates and discern exactly what everyone is looking for in a new principal. He begins preliminary interviews Wednesday and is confident they will have someone in place soon.”Fortunately we have a number of highly qualified candidates that have applied,” Langlois said.