Community members in Berea are contending with how to move forward after a budget crisis and layoffs at the town’s independent school district.
The Berea School Board announced a budget deficit of more than $1 million earlier this month. To manage the shortfall, more than 30 positions at Berea Independent Schools are being cut.
The board is currently undergoing a change in leadership after calls to remove Superintendent Diane Hatchett.
The budget crisis brought many members of the community together to brainstorm how to move forward. A meeting last week saw parents, school officials and city leaders together to discuss the district’s future.
Retired educator Debra Morgan helped organize the meeting.
“We knew back in December there was some budget crisis, but none of us were aware of how drastic it was until like, a week ago Monday,” Morgan said.
Those cuts mean larger class sizes and less teachers. School officials asked parents to keep their kids at the school system as they try to resolve the situation.
Kyle French is Director of Pupil Personnel at Berea Independent Schools. He spoke about the importance of school attendance, which directly affects school funding.
“This year, our attendance percentage has gone up by 1%, which seems small, but it equals approximately $36,000. And if we can increase our attendance even more to pre-COVID levels, that's a teaching position,” French said.
Other potential ideas included a new partnership with Berea College. School board officials discussed plans with Berea College President Cheryl Nixon to help make up for the staffing cuts.
“We have many faculty and staff… very committed to seeing us through this moment, to the point where they are saying, ‘Can we go volunteer at the Community School?’” Nixon said.
That partnership could also include more dual enrollment programs at the college, or tutoring sessions with college mentors.
Berea mayor Bruce Fraley also spoke at the meeting. He said they’ll continue a longstanding partnership the city has with the school.
“We're looking for solutions, and that's one thing that I feel certain of, is that certainly, on my watch, that the city government is going to partner with the school, to continue to provide those in kind services,” Fraley said.
Earlier this week, the Berea school board met during a special meeting to address some of those concerns.
The board voted during the meeting to place superintendent Hatchett on paid administrative leave while they investigate claims of financial mismanagement.
Debra Morgan was among those at the meeting.
“If there were some legal issues or legal actions that need to be taken, I would trust that they would pursue those. But like I said, if it's just poor management, poor leadership, that's not illegal, you know, and that's just unfortunate,” Morgan said.
She says she hopes the situation leads to more communication between the board and the community.
“I think that's been a lack of transparency and a lack of communication that we've had over the last seven years or so. And I'm happy to see that that's something that's going to be changed,” Morgan said.
The board also voted to scrap a proposed solar project that officials said contributed to the budget problem. They also took steps to create two new funds for community members to donate to school programs directly.
That includes an account at Community Trust Bank and a booster for the school’s Jobs for America's Graduates career readiness program.
Robyn Moreland was one of the concerned parents who showed up at the meeting. She called those fundraisers a good idea.
I’m just getting people that live all across the country, saying, ‘How can we help, how can we help?’ And so it's gonna be a really great way to get our community to be able to support our school in lots of different ways,” Moreland said.
Former Madison County Schools superintendent Elmer Thomas will be Berea’s interim superintendent as the investigation continues. The school board expects to name a permanent superintendent by June 30.
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