By Linda Conner Lambeck

WESTPORT — When two elementary assistant principals were cut from a prior school budget it was a money decision, not a programmatic one.

That is persuasive to Board of Education Chair Lee Goldstein.

When principals described the fractured system that exists without full-time assistant principals, board Vice Chairman Dorie Hordon said it spoke to her.

And board Secretary Neil Phillips said he does not doubt that administrative struggles are caused by the existing system.

Nice to have, but …

Each board member, however, added a “but” in explaining why they are still on the fence about committing $405,000 in the 2025-26 budget proposal to restoring positions that would give each of the district’s five elementary schools two assistant principals.

“It is a big ask,” board member Abby Tolan said at a meeting last week. “It weighs heavily on me. I am not 100 percent.”

A week from voting on a budget to send to town funding bodies, the seven-member school board made it clear a decision on the proposed personnel additions in Supt. of Schools Thomas Scarice’s $150.3 million 2025-26 budget proposal is anything but certain.

In addition to the two assistant principals, there are personnel requests to add a facilities coordinator, a part-time health teacher, an additional technology assistant and two permanent building substitutes.

Other budget uncertainties

The board also learned last week that Scarice’s proposed bottom line is likely to change based on higher health insurance costs, lower state special education reimbursements, more transportation savings if one to two school buses are cut and buying a new Coleytown Middle School sound system.

There seemed to be a good amount of support for the sound system, tech position and even the facilities coordinator position, which has been proposed and rejected in the past.

“There are so many projects,” said Goldstein.

Board members divided over proposal

As for assistant principals, however, Goldstein said she is worried about the cost of salaries for the positions over time.

“If it was just money. I would absolutely fight for it and include it in the budget,” Goldstein said. But it is more. 

While principals made a convincing case for the APs, Goldstein said she hasn’t heard the same plea from teachers or parents. “It feels almost oversold in some ways,” she said. “Like everything is wrapped up in one position too much.”

She declared herself still undecided.

Tolan said she buys the argument that an additional AP can offer struggling students one more adult in a school to engage with, but added most students go to middle school pretty well prepared. Where is the lack of two full-time elementary APs damaging students, she asked.

Board member Jill Dillon said part of an assistant principal’s job is hard to quantify.

“I think they play a role in mental health for kids who need extra help,’’ Dillon said, adding that if the positions aren’t kept in this year’s budget they likely will never come back.

“Is that who we want to be as a district?” she said.

Conversely, Hordon said if the positions are restored, they might never again be taken out.

As someone who has advocated for the AP restoration in the past, Hordon said it did feel a little oversold this time around.

“I still could be convinced, but really I’m not sure,” she said.

Phillips said his reservations about restoring two APs at each elementary is that he is not convinced some tasks they perform couldn’t be done by a non-administrator.

Why not find a creative way to relieve some of the pressure points, Phillips asked.

Board member Kevin Christie said although staff answered all his questions about the role of assistant principals, he still struggles to understand the direct impact on students. “… and I think about the dollar impact. It gives me a little pause,” he added.

Board member Robert Harrington, who voted against the full budget proposal last year when assistant principals weren’t added, said he will do the same this year if the jobs are not included.

“I feel strongly about it,” said Harrington, adding that although he views the overall school district as “fantastic,” he is least excited about the elementary schools.

Is it the lack of two full-time assistant principals? 

Harrington said he isn’t sure, but added the principals have been consistent and clear about their request.

Goldstein said she too would like to make the district’s elementary schools “more vibrant,” but is not convinced additional assistant principals are the solution.

Freelance writer Linda Conner Lambeck, a reporter for more than four decades at the Connecticut Post and other Hearst publications, is a member of the Education Writers Association.