Proposed Berea Community staff cuts could cost students for years

Berea Independent Schools, the school district responsible for managing the local Berea Community Schools, addressed community uproar around district superintendent Dr. Diane Hatchett on the morning of March 24 and introduced a plan of action that will have dire consequences for the schools’ faculty. These changes are affecting Berea College students in education now, and they will likely continue to do so in the coming years.

“We recognize the urgency members of the public have expressed about the need for change in leadership at the district,” Berea Independent Schools writes. “We thank the community for sharing their expectations, and we agree that it is in the best interest of students, families, school staff, and the district to make the change promptly. To that end, the board chair and the superintendent are discussing options to make that happen as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

The foremost demand made by the community called for the relief of Dr. Hatchett from her position as superintendent of Berea Independent Schools.

This uproar was sparked after Berea community member Kerry Cummins created the petition calling for Dr. Hatchett’s resignation on March 18, citing egregious mismanagement of district finances. The change.org petition prominently displays the following screenshot: a digital spreadsheet of only 80% of Dr. Hatchett’s alleged expenses, amounting to just over $33,000 of the $41,262 total—almost double Berea’s per capita income.

Image courtesy of Kerry Cummins

As a consequence of Dr. Hatchett’s alleged mismanagement of the district budget, the school district has proposed cuts that will save the district $1.3 million, which includes 24 staff cuts in total across elementary, middle, and high school levels.

These cuts will affect the staff members whose positions are being cut, but the consequences of these cuts will notably have a direct effect on students and the quality of their education. Community members, from Berea Community alumni to graduating seniors and underclassmen students, have made their concerns on the matter abundantly clear—who Berea Independent Schools will be losing next school year will come at a significant cost.

Image courtesy of Berea Independent Schools

The Berea Community Schools are only a short walk away from the Berea College campus. As such, the schools have been known for collaborating with Berea College students interested in K-12 education. There, some of the early effects of these imminent losses have been observed by students. None of the interviewed students are representatives of the education department or any of the local schools.

Eric Sparks, 26’, a junior majoring in Mathematics, has noticed significant anxiety among the faculty of the local Berea Community Schools due to the staff cuts looming over the district. The teacher who Sparks is observing as part of the College’s education curriculum is a newer teacher at the Community Schools. As such, that teacher may be getting cut from the school’s staff before the start of the next academic year.

In addition, Sparks noted that the only chemistry teacher at the Berea Community Schools is being cut and will no longer be working for the schools before the start of the next academic year. This will effectively render the schools’ chemistry program inert, barring students from taking classes related to chemistry.

These circumstances, along with general frustration with the changes, have inspired some students and their families to consider withdrawing from the Berea Community Schools and seeking a foundational education elsewhere. Not every student attending the Community Schools has that luxury, however.

James Stabler, 25’, a senior majoring in Education Studies, in addition to Sparks has pointed to the status of many students at the Community Schools as low-income students.

“I am especially concerned with the fact the Berea Community is losing so many staff at all levels, especially since a large part of the school community is low-income,” Stabler writes. “In the current system of education that we have, poor students are often disadvantaged and it seems that it is another slap in the face to low-income students.”

Both Sparks and Stabler encourage anyone concerned with the staff cuts proposed by Berea Independent Schools to speak out by contacting the school board to express their concerns.