Dear District 65 Community -
I hope everyone is having a nice weekend and is enjoying the sunshine. As we head into the next week, we want to be communicative regarding next steps as it relates to our structural deficit reduction plan. We understand that recent discussions about middle school staffing have raised many questions and concerns within our community, particularly about student supports.
We want to acknowledge those concerns and share an important update following the school board’s action last week on staffing reductions as part of our Phase III Structural Deficit Reduction Plan.
After listening carefully to families, staff, and community members, we are restructuring our approach to retain two school counselors at each middle school and one counselor at King Arts for the upcoming school year. This is essentially the reduction of one counselor position at Haven and Nichols middle schools. We are grateful for our counselors and recognize the important role they play in supporting students’ academic progress, social-emotional well-being, and transition to high school. This adjustment reflects the administration and school board’s commitment to being responsive to community input while continuing to address our financial realities.
We do want to share that the difficult decision has been made to reassign middle school librarians. We value the many contributions of the educators who serve in these roles and are grateful they will continue to support students in other educator positions within our schools.
As we move forward, our focus is on maintaining middle school library collections on-site and ensuring continued student access to resources and learning opportunities. We will work closely with middle school librarians, the library department chair, and school leaders to determine next steps, including exploring partnerships with local libraries and organizations to support access to materials, literacy, and welcoming library spaces, as well as how digital and information literacy will continue to be supported for students.
We want to be transparent that additional reductions will still be necessary across the district as we work to close our structural deficit. These decisions are incredibly difficult, particularly when they affect people and valued services, and they are not made lightly. Our responsibility is to make thoughtful decisions now that support stable learning environments for students and the long-term financial sustainability of our schools.
Thank you for your continued partnership and for sharing your perspectives with us. Your feedback helps inform our decisions and we remain committed to communicating openly as this work continues.
