Nahant eliminating retiring teacher’s position

NAHANT – Nahant school administrators decided against filling a retiring teacher’s position instead of cutting non-salary items to meet the budget.In a public hearing at Tuesday night’s School Committee meeting to discuss the 2013-14 budget, Superintendent Phil Devaux explained that when $74,097 needed to be cut from the budget, there was an opportunity with a teacher retiring who made just over that salary. As a result, the two current third-grade classes of 11 and 13 students will be consolidated into one fourth grade class of 24.”The consolidation resolves the difference,” said Devaux. “There won’t be as much staffing as there was a few years ago, but there won’t be as many classrooms.”Devaux said by choosing to cut the teacher’s salary, Nahant will be able to restore some line items that had been lost, such as staffing for art, music, library and technology. “On Sept. 1 we will have almost everything back, restoring a good amount of what we’ve lost over the years,” he said.The attrition will also allow the district to afford non-salary items like materials and maintenance costs, which according to Devaux had been cut for three years in a row. “We can’t afford to go a third year without basic elements like paper towels,” Devaux said. He added that building maintenance at the Johnson School was “not equal” to what the school had three years ago, with repairs done on an emergency rather than preventive basis.With a tuition increase on the horizon in 2014-15’s budget for Swampscott schools, Devaux said it was “best to not leave cupboards bare.”Committee secretary Michael Flynn was concerned about how the district would accommodate enrollment increases with only one third grade. “The fear is from the public that once you lose a spot, you never get it back,” said Flynn.Devaux replied, “We will just have to see what the scenario is when we get to it. This is not a community that attracts families with elementary school children, at least not this year.”Kait Taylor can be reached at [email protected].