Beverly superintendent to save teachers' jobs at Briscoe
BEVERLY — Briscoe Middle School will retain its teacher team that initially was cut in Superintendent James Hayes' proposal to reorganize the district.
Hayes said he'll be able to come up with $312,620 to keep four full-time math, science, social studies and English teachers and one part-time reading teacher.
"Without pinpointing where exactly the money is coming from yet," Hayes said, there's about $106,000 in savings that emerged from the difference in salaries between the teachers that are retiring this year, and the new teachers that will replace them next year.
He said both electricity costs and health insurance costs on the city side were also budgeted higher than necessary and will result in more savings — which haven't been determined yet — and the mayor may wind up kicking in a higher contribution to the schools.
"All these things are swirling around, but it's hard to put your finger on them," Hayes said.
Hayes originally proposed eliminating one team of teachers and consolidating students into five teams, which would have meant about 32 or 33 students in a class. Since he announced his proposal at the end of March, he has said if he could change anything, it would be to reinstate the teaching team, and he and the School Committee made it a priority.
"We all agreed one way or another that the budget is going to be massaged to preserve this team," Hayes said.
The decision pleased parents, who were upset losing those teachers at Briscoe would create an inconsistent and unstable environment for their children at the middle school. Students were moved from Memorial to Briscoe three years ago, and this is the first year the six-team model was brought back to the seventh and eighth grade.
"This year especially, you can see it's all working now," said parent Mercene Perry, who has a child at Briscoe. "Cutting that team would have been terrible."
