LUMBERTON — The chairman of the Board of Education for the Public Schools of Robeson County says no massive layoffs are planned for the system, even though plans are to close some schools.

Staffing, including principal assignments, will be the main topic when the school board meets Friday during a special meeting.

John Campbell, named chairman of the board at its July 9 meeting, said employees are anxious to learn if they have jobs or not come the start of the upcoming school year. The board members and administrators want them to know that no mass layoffs are planned. Reduction in force first will be achieved through attrition, with people leaving the district to pursue jobs elsewhere or retiring.

“That’s the only way we can get out of a deficit,” Campbell said, referring to a $2 million budget shortfall.

The meeting will be at 5 p.m. in the school district’s central office at 4320 Kahn Drive in Lumberton, and the agenda also includes administrative recommendations for the 2019-2020 operating budget. The Robesonian will live stream the meeting on Facebook.

The Friday meeting is unusual considering the district office is closed on Fridays during the summer months. Campbell said the district’s Human Resources office, Superintendent Shanita Wooten and other administrators have been working hard to get the plan together.

The plan was just finished and it was decided to hold the Friday meeting so it can be reviewed by the board and the information be shared with employees as soon as possible.

“Time is an urgency,” Campbell said. “Schools will be opening soon.”

Superintendent Shanita Wooten presented the board with a plan to cut costs by closing and reorganizing schools on June 18. The plan called for for R.B. Dean Elementary School students to be consolidated with Townsend Middle School, Green Grove Elementary students to move to the Fairgrove Middle School campus, and Janie C. Hargrave students to attend W.H. Knuckles Elementary and Carroll Middle.

South Robeson High was to close, and students were to be spread among Fairmont, Lumberton and Purnell Swett high schools.

Wooten originally suggested closing South Robeson High for the 2020-21 school year, but school board members advised her to determine if the closure could happen in advance of the school year that begins in August.

On July 9, the day after a public forum on the consolidation plan during which many people complained about South Robeson closing, the school board voted 6-5, with Campbell casting the tie-breaking vote, to keep it open at least for the upcoming school year.

They did that after hearing an audit that painted a dire picture of the system’s finances, saying it basically had enough in the bank to operate for a single month.

“We may need to revisit the entire plan,” Wooten said after the votes were cast.

In an open letter to district employees sent out Wednesday, Wooten acknowledged that the district has reached a “financial impasse.”

“This is a critically important moment in our history. The steps we take will chart the course for our district’s future,” the letter reads in part.

In her letter, Wooten speaks of the plans presented to address the budget deficit. She also speaks of the need to improve overall planning and operational effectiveness.

“We are in the process of reviewing our practices to identify performance gaps and opportunities for improvement. We simply cannot afford duplication or inefficiencies and must align outcomes, policies, and administrative approaches. We must identify ways to make the best use of our existing resources,” the letter reads in part.

Wooten writes of the planning underway as necessary to “inform staffing changes, including reassignments or changes in roles and responsibilities.”

“The reorganization is not meant to diminish the work currently being performed by our employees, nor is it meant to devalue your work,” the letter reads in part. “Efforts to find cost savings through elimination of positions resulting from retirements and resignations is our priority. Please be assured, my goal is not to recommend a reduction in force during the 2019-2020 school year.”

In her letter, Wooten assures employees they will receive their 2019-2020 assignments soon.

“The specifics of work assignments and reassignments are being finalized. For the majority of our staff, there will be no immediate impact. Once the staffing plans are finalized, those directly affected will be contacted,” Wooten writes in the letter.

The school system’s financial problems have also caught the attention of the state Board of Education, whose members include Olivia Oxendine, a Lumberton resident and a professor in the School of Education at UNC Pembroke. She and another state official have been meeting privately with school board members and administrators to offer advice on how to get on better financial footing.

Campbell
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_Campbell-John-1-1.jpgCampbell

Wooten
https://www.robesonian.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/web1_Wooten-Shanita-1.jpgWooten
Board of Education to hold special meeting Friday

T.C. Hunter

Managing editor

Reach T.C. Hunter by calling 910-816-1974 or via email at [email protected].