No decisions yet in Barberton school cuts

By BOB MOREHEAD

BGNN senior staff writer

BARBERTON  Facing a pending $9.2 million deficit brought on by a mix of inflation, state cuts and local accounting errors, Barberton school administrators met Dec. 18 with faculty and staff to discuss the issue.

“If you are not contacted to meet, you are not included in the reductions,” Assistant Superintendent Mike Andric wrote in an email to staff the previous week.

Social media was flooded with opinions assuming this meant contract nonrenewals were going to be handed out.

“That could have been worded better,” Superintendent Jason Ondrus told BGNN after that meeting Dec. 18. “That’s something we’ll look at going forward.”

Instead, Ondrus said, the meeting was an information dump, giving personnel a detailed look at the projections for staffing next year.

“There has been no decision yet by the board,” Ondrus said. “We are working to have our plan in place by Feb. 21. A lot may factor into it, like retirements. We will be acting later in the spring.”

Ondrus promised to keep personnel and the public in the loop as the plan comes together. As for the mistakes that aggravated an already aggravating fiscal situation, they’re working on that, too.

“We’re undergoing a performance audit,” Ondrus said. “That can be a fairly lengthy process.”