Lynnville-Sully eliminates high school principal position

The Lynnville-Sully Community School District board this week took the somewhat uncommon step of eliminating its only high school principal position.

The board voted unanimously at its regular meeting on Monday to eliminate the positions of Matt Rasmusson, the L-S High School principal, as well as K-12 academic interventionist Damian Imhoff and high school library associate Monica Lanser for 2015-16.

The board voted to pay a salary stipend of $10,000 to Shane Wheeler in 2015-16 as compensation for being the new “dean of students for grades 7-12.” Wheeler is listed on Lynnville-Sully’s website as the district’s director of technology.

Lynnville-Sully Board President Duane Rozendaal said the district narrowly managed to avoid a major personnel impact last spring, but the district simply has too many rising costs this time around.

Rising special-education costs, a substantial reduction in state aid over several school cycles, and the addition of full-time support staff positions are just a few of the spiraling deficits forcing the hand of Rozendaal and the board.

“A year ago, we were able to wait, but we saw the writing on the wall,” Rozendaal said. “The board tasked the superintendent (Shane Ehresman) and the business manager to come up with $150,000 in budget cuts for 2015-16.”

Rozendaal said the district’s solvency ratio is important, as is keeping talented, veteran educators in the district. It was not immediately clear if Rasmusson, Imhoff or Lanser would remain with the district next year, or if they would be well-suited to apply for any other positions.

The crunch might solve some of Lynnville-Sully’s bigger budget dilemmas, but it also might be a sign of some other uncommon and tough choices made across the state this spring. Not only have the governor and legislature indicated a tight budget is imminent, but the legislature has yet to approve a complete state supplemental aid plan for either of the next two school years.

Rasmusson could not be reached for comment for this story by press time. The board is set to hold a budget workshop on April 6 at its regular monthly meeting on April 20.

“We (board members) keep a watchful eye on the budget, and try to be proactive about these sorts of things,” Rozendaal said. “We could see things were sliding downward, and we feel we did everything we could to try to avoid these kinds of reductions.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com