To say this past year has been a challenging one for teachers and students would be an understatement.
With the COVID-19 pandemic has come plenty of uncertainty, but Sedona- Oak Creek School District leaders feel they have a good handle on the rest of this school year as they now look forward to the 2021- 2022 school year. The first step in looking to next year took place last week during a workshop in which the budget was reviewed but no action was taken.
“We’ve been working on the budget for about four weeks now,” Superinten-dent Dennis Dearden said. “This year has probably been — and I think everybody would agree — one of the most difficult challenges we have ever faced in education. And it’s been no exception in Sedona.
“Having said that, we’re blessed with a great team that works well together and has stayed true to our vision, mission and priorities of our district. And at the same time, trying to keep school open. We’ve done a great job of that. We’ve been open since the start of the school year. I think we have been open probably longer than anyone in the state.”
In October, the district found itself $180,000 in the hole after projecting a loss of 30 students going into the current school year.
But as a result of COVID-19, the district actually lost 80 students. But around that same time, Heather Burton, the district’s head of human resources and finance, and her husband, Don Burton, Sedona Red Rock High School’s athletic director and assistant principal, announced they were moving to Florida. The district eliminated the assistant principal position while Stacy Saravo became the interim director of human resources and finance.
Between those two decisions alone, it saved the district a combined $132,000. Along with additional personnel changes and other minor cuts, they were able to reduce the budget by $188,475, leaving a net gain of $8,475. At the same time, the district has remained on track for a 3% carryover into the next school year, which equates to $174,000.
“I think it’s very important for us to have a reserve of some kind,” Dearden said. “If we go into every year dead broke, we’re just waiting for a catastrophe to happen.”
The district is already beginning to brace for another decrease in enrollment for next school year with an anticipated drop of 45 students district wide. This equates to $180,000.
During the workshop, which took place virtually due to the snowstorm, Dearden went over a plan to move sixth grade to the high school next year in order to form an actual middle school. This, in turn, would save money.
In the presentation, Dearden and Saravo listed the benefits of moving sixth grade to create a middle school. They include:
■ Aligns with other districts in the Verde Valley.
■ Four teachers working together as a team to get middle school students best prepared for entering high school.
■ Access to increased electives such as orchestra, theater and athletics and club participation classes taught by content area specialists.
■ Earlier college and career talks.
“It will reduce some of our costs because we’ll basically lose two teachers,” Dearden said, adding that the reduction of teachers will be through attrition or absorbing those positions in other areas within the district.
But as he pointed out, moving the sixth grade has less to do with money and more as a way to benefit the students.
“We think it will be much more age appropriate and developmentally appropriate for sixth graders to be part of a middle school concept,” he said.
An in-depth article on to sixth grade moving will appear in the Friday, Feb. 5, edition of the Sedona Red Rock News.
