A fourth Coupeville High School/Middle School secretary has written a letter to Superintendent Steve King and the school board asking for help.
CMS Secretary Lisa Yoder joins Registrar/Counseling Secretary Eileen Stone, Attendance/Athletic Secretary Barbi Ford, and Fiscal/ASB secretary Rosalie Fix in expressing the belief budget cuts have placed a substantial burden on support staff and are stretching them to the limit.
The four, who have combined to give the district 39 years, are asking district officials to put a priority on hiring a general education paraeducator.
Yoder, who is also part of the Coupeville Educational Support Association Exec Board, addresses the impact the letters have, while detailing why the secretaries have reached this point.
“We do not want to advertise our district’s shortcomings and we do not want our school community to think we do not appreciate our important roles/the opportunities we have to support our students and their families,” she said.
In the letter, Yoder details a meeting with district officials, and the secretary’s belief that their concerns are not being fully addressed.
“We asked for some help, by way of a part time substitute of any kind, to assist with tutorial, lunch supervision, ISS, secretary lunch coverage, etc., until winter break.
“The help we received from the district was being told to create a schedule where we cover for each other at lunch, which has only added to our workloads and has done nothing to help with the most important issue we brought forth, which is the plight of our students.
“We realize the budget situation is certainly not ideal, but is it so dire that we couldn’t have had a substitute at the rate of approx. $20 per hour to come in for three hours a day just to get us to winter break?”
The letters come in advance of the final school board meeting of 2023, which is set for Thursday, Dec. 14 at 5:30 PM in the Kathleen Anderson Boardroom on the CHS campus.
The school board acknowledges receiving correspondence during those meetings, but letters are not read aloud.
Public comment is allowed earlier in the meeting.
To read Yoder’s full letter, pop over to:
Coupeville Sports 