School District Restructuring Department Heads

The seven department supervisor positions at are being abolished at the end of June and six new supervisor positions to encompass all grades are being established in their place under a resolution approved by the Board of Education at the recommendation of the superintendent during the board's Wednesday night meeting.

Superintendent Dr. Michael Rossi said the change will expand curriculum supervision at the elementary and junior school levels, and will position the district to have teachers evaluated by supervisors who work outside their buildings, which the district anticipates eventually will be mandated by the state.

Under the plan, the high school department supervisors would return to their teaching duties full time next school year. They and other faculty members could apply for the new supervisor jobs.

Math teacher Mark Fisher said during the public comments portion of the meeting he respectfully disagrees with the change because the existing system allows department supervisors to teach some classes in addition to performing their roles as supervisors. He said supervisors tend to be the best teachers and shouldn't have to choose between supervising and teaching.

The high school department heads receive supplemental pay for being supervisors. They would lose the supplemental pay when those positions no longer exist.

Rossi said the change is "cost neutral" and won't affect the budget.

"The current group that occupy the positions have done a noteworthy job and are to be commended for what they've done in terms of teaching and their jobs as supervisors at Madison High School," Rossi said. "Moving forward, we absolutely need to look at the whole program K-12. That is something that is absolutely necessary."

The positions to be abolished June 30:

• English Department Supervisor
• History/Social Studies Department Supervisor
• Math Department Supervisor
• Science Department Supervisor
• World Language Department Supervisor
• Special Education Department Supervisor
• Visual & Performing Arts Supervisor

The teachers currently in those positions—Carole Breheny, Mark DeBiasse, Marcia Prill, Jenn Freeman, Cathy Gotliffe, Chris Kenny, Stacy Snider—would return to teaching next year, with the exception of Breheny, who is retiring. During its meeting, the board approved the retirement of Breheny as well as of teacher Carol Starke, reading teacher Joan Hart and high school physical education and health teacher Robert Chandler.

The board approved job descriptions for the positions in the new supervisor structure:

• Supervisor of Elementary Education
• Supervisor of Humanities 6-12
• Supervisor of Mathematics and Business Education K-12
• Supervisor of Science and Technology Education K-12
• Supervisor of Visual and Performing Arts/World Language K-12
• Supervisor of Special Services K-12

Correction: The number of current high school supervisors was incorrectly reported in a previous version of this story.