WESTMINSTER : School District Considering Layoffs

Facing a $1.6-million budget shortfall, Westminster School District officials are considering laying off dozens of employees, including teachers, custodians and health aides.

“It is with a heavy heart that I make these recommendations tonight. All these programs are good and all are needed by our youngsters,” Supt. Gail Wickstrom said Thursday. “We are in a fiscal crisis in the state and in Westminster, but I suppose the buck stops here.”

After weeks of gathering suggestions from staff, faculty and parents, Wickstrom has formulated a two-part list of the programs that would be “the least devastating for the youngsters of the district” if they were cut.

The short list includes cutting 18 teachers, for a savings of $801,900, and reducing management costs by $60,000.

She also included a second level of suggested cuts so the school board would have other options for reductions.

Those cuts include mandatory two-day unpaid furloughs for employees for a savings of $208,000, eliminating health aides to save $155,000 and cutting seven custodians for $230,000.

Other suggested personnel reductions include a psychologist, a maintenance worker, a nurse, a bus driver and a clerical worker.

The board will hold a public hearing on the budget on Feb. 18 and consider approving reductions at a special meeting on Feb. 25.