Bethel Superintendent of Schools Christine Carver. File photo
BETHEL – The town’s s school district is cutting several positions in response to a recent reduction in its spending plan.
The cuts include a full-time music teacher, a full-time para-educator, a part-time technology support position and the district’s portion of a Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps position.
The $43 million Board of Education budget that voters passed this month is $542,000 lower than the district’s original spending request in February. The Board of Finance first cut the proposal to $43.3 million but voters rejected that plan in April by a two-vote margin.
The finance panel then cut an additional $300,000 from the proposal.
“Reducing the budget is always a difficult task,” Superintendent of Schools Christine Carver said Friday in her weekly newsletter.
“The administration of the Bethel Public Schools carefully looked at all programs with the following priorities: maintaining appropriate class sizes at the elementary levels; ensuring the integrity of our core academic and mandated programs; continuation of progress toward a comprehensive intervention program for students who have academic gaps; and examining the existing vacancies to minimize lay-offs.”