In a bid to trim costs, an administrative restructuring will happen at Mission Public Schools District (MPSD).
According to a district memo released Monday, the following positions will be eliminated, some effective the end of June and others by July:
• Deputy superintendent: Brenda Lightburn
• Director of instruction (student learning): Graham Black
• Vice-principal (student services): Cyndie Anderson
• Vice-principal (Riverside College): Rick Fitch
• Director of school operations: Stan Weir
• Custodial manager: Bert Bastiaansen
• Payroll supervisor: Marie Schultze
• School business managers: Marie Powell and Mary Shurko
The memo, signed by school superintendent Frank Dunham, noted Lightburn has been seconded to the Ministry of Education for a year, but will not be returning to MPSD afterwards. Anderson and Fitch will take other jobs in the district, while the remainder will be laid off.
The work will be split to others throughout the district, and will be finalized by September, said Dunham.
“At this time we would like to express our sincere gratitude and thanks to all those named here for their commitment and dedication to Mission and their leadership in a variety of school and district roles within our school district. We wish them well in the years ahead,” read the memo.
Trustee chair Edie Heinrichs said in an e-mail that the changes are aimed at saving around $700,000.
She said the board “inherited a deficit of more than $900,000 with only three years to pay this back and have a projected shortfall of $1.2 million for next year.”
Heinrichs also noted that exempt staff levels have been rising in the past few years and that “if some of these cuts had been made in the previous years’ shortfalls, we would not have had to cut as deep.”
She added there is “excellent staff” in the district and that the restructuring will be done “in a way in which we can afford and can also give more service and support to our students and staff.”
