Newberg interim superintendent applauds employee group agreements, plans for new substitutes

Interim Superintendent Paula Radich’s message to the Newberg school board on Aug. 13 was, to a degree, optimistic.

She shared with the board that the district, in seeking downsizing of personnel in light of the district’s growing financial woes, has come to agreement with five employee groups over the past several weeks. She added that although the prep work for the anticipated reduction-in-force process took many hours, the negotiation process only took three days.

“Which is remarkable,” Radich remarked. “Most district take three to six months to do this work.”

The former longtime Newberg administrator, who volunteered to step in when former superintendent Stephen Phillips went on leave , added that the employee associations were aligned from the start with the district on the RIFs, as well the recalls of some employees. The district and the associations also agreed on eight furlough days in the 2024-25 school year as well as the creation of six licensed substitute positions.

“So, these are people on the recall list who can come back or will come back and substitute: two at the elementary, two at the middle (school) level and two at the high school,” Radich said. “That means that we will not be calling in subs. These are our people. The good news for them is that they will have a job — they’ll have a job all year.”

The district’s analysis of shortcomings in the 2023-24 budget indicated, Radich had reported to the board prior, that the district was spending an inordinate amount of money on substitute teachers while also paying a growing number of full-time teachers while they were on leave.

Finally, Radich reported to the board, that further analysis of the budget found that many departments in the district had no systems in place, misunderstood the systems they did have or that the systems were “broken” and not functioning properly. In response, she said, the district is redesigning systems as some schools for efficiency and enhanced collaboration. Furthermore, the district has begun looking at inclusion models, technology support and onboarding/offboarding staff to determine if they are effective and can be gauged.