Bartlesville Public Schools will streamline its administrative positions for next school year.  Superintendent Chuck McCauley will recommend that the school board eliminate four administrative jobs and create two new positions in a consolidation and reorganization of the district’s athletics and high school administration.  As part of the process, McCauley will recommend that the four administrators currently occupying the eliminated positions not be re-employed at the end of the 2017 school year.  The affected administrators would be eligible to apply for the two newly created positions and other open positions in the district.

Supt. McCauley indicated he will be making the recommendation with great regret, citing how state aid money for the district for the current school year was already falling short of projections. His recommendation will reduce the school district's yearly expenditures by approximately $160,000, adding to $292,000 in annual savings created by the elimination of three central office administrative positions for the the 2016-2017 school year.

McCauley says the bond issue voters passed last August is helping the district, as intended, to shift expenses and avoid cuts in teaching staff.  He wants to make it clear to everyone that the employees associated with the positions being eliminated have done nothing wrong and that his recommendation will be based on financial circumstances.  McCauley will recommend the eliminating the positions of Director of Athletics, Assistant Director of Athletics, Bruin Academy Dean, and one of the four Assistant Principal positions at Bartlesville High School.

At the same time, Bartlesville Schools will create two new positions. A Director of Athletics & Activities will add responsibility over school activities to the current athletic director functions. The new combined position of Bruin Academy Principal and Assistant Director of Athletics & Activities will consolidate the duties of the two similar existing positions.

Supt. McCauley has indicated that he does not anticipate other significant personnel reductions will be needed. He noted that the district has been planning since the spring of 2016 to add an Executive Director of Technology & Communications in July 2017, and he expects additional technology-related staffing increases will be needed to successfully implement a multi-year 1:1 computing initiative.

That program is one of the district budget priorities for 2017-2018, along with rebuilding the district fund balance, protecting existing programs, expanding STEM curricula into the elementary schools, and recruiting and retaining talented teachers by maintaining class sizes, providing salary increases, and improving school culture.