The Arrowhead School Board voted not to renew the contracts of four teachers despite community opposition.
Superintendent Conrad Farner cited declining enrollment and budget shortfalls as reasons for the staffing cuts.
Parents, students, and residents voiced strong support for the teachers during a public comment period.
The district aims to balance its budget and improve academic performance, which has seen fluctuating state report card scores.
The Arrowhead School Board voted not to renew the contracts of four teachers April 8 despite overwhelming opposition from parents, students and residents who packed the school’s South Campus library.
After deliberating in closed session for almost an hour and 40 minutes, the board came back into open session and unanimously approved issuing notices to consider not renewing the teaching contracts of social studies teacher Tim Tower, language arts teacher Katie Herrmann, science teacher Brian Corry and math teacher Mark Leoni. By the time the board’s vote took place just before 10:30 p.m., most of the crowd had gone home, leaving just a handful who stayed for the board’s decision.
During the public comment period earlier in the meeting, most of the 28 people who spoke – a mix of parents, residents, students and former Arrowhead staff – questioned the district’s rationale. Many of the comments drew loud rounds of applause.
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Arrowhead has lost ~20% of its students in the past decade. It’s no surprise teachers will lose their jobs. And achievement has declined. If you can’t do basic things, you’ll lose students when parents have a choice.