Saugus school positions may end up on chopping block

SAUGUS – Athletic Director Robert O?Leary is just one school department employee whose job could be cut in a proposed plan to handle budget constraints.With the town?s budget still in the hands of the Finance Committee, School Committee member Arthur Grabowski explained that the proposed plan is only one for discussion beginning at the committee?s meeting this evening.Grabowski explained that the process is customary to prepare a plan for cuts, to notify employees ahead of time if their positions will not be continued, especially when the $2 million “pie-in-the-sky” budget increase that the school department proposed is a far cry from the $350,000 that Town Manager Scott Crabtree recommended.Grabowski said the committee will most likely analyze Superintendent Michael Tempesta?s plan and make their own suggestions before moving to a vote.?I?m not prepared to agree to the proposal tomorrow night,” said Grabowski on Wednesday. “It needs more conversation between the School Committee and the superintendent.”He added that the proposed plan “causes some concern.”If O?Leary?s position is cut, his responsibilities will be absorbed by that of Saugus High School Assistant Principal Michael Nelson, who served as athletic director before O?Leary.When asked if the athletic department could function without a full-time leader, Grabowski said, “It can function without a lot of things, whether it functions well is another matter.”