Dear BISD Community,
This week, we had our first round of certificated RIF (Reduction in Force) and reassignment notices. It has been an extremely difficult last few days, and I want to hold space for each of our staff members experiencing a sense of loss and uncertainty. My heart is heavy—I fully own every change and decision made, and I carry the weight of the impact these changes and decisions have on the lives of our staff members, their families, our students and our BISD community.
This very difficult reality is also met with the fact that we have no choice but to reduce our overall budget by $6.6 million for 2025-26 and that 85% of our budget is devoted to salaries and benefits.
In order to be as respectful and thoughtful to our employees as possible, we are methodically working through the reduction process and then providing notification as soon as possible so that staff can make decisions and plans for their employment next year.
The best thing we can do for our students is to ensure that they are at the center of all decisions. I continually visualize students of all ages and think of the aspects that they love about their school day and currently have access to, and I try to ensure that these things will continue (even if they might look a little different) despite budget reductions.
In order to continue my commitment to transparent decision-making and allow for shared understanding, here is an update of program and enrollment-related reductions that were made this week:
REDUCTIONS*:
Library: Elimination of certificated librarians at each BISD school.
There will be a plan to ensure libraries remain open and accessible to students at all schools.
The accessibility will be maintained for staff and students, it will just look a bit different.
PE: Reductions were made to PE based on enrollment and certificated staff FTE to meet student needs and contractual needs.
Highly Capable: Reductions were made to Highly Capable Services at K-4th grade.
Intervention services: Reduction of certificated interventionist positions at the K-6 level.
One K-6 Intervention Coordinator was retained.
This impacts some of our most vulnerable students but will not impact their access to and receipt of intervention services next year. The delivery model will change. This will take some time to sort out and further details will follow.
5th and 6th Grade Band: This part-time elective was eliminated.
We are committed to our BISD band program and the importance it plays in the lives of our students.
We will work creatively to find a way to support band for our intermediate school students. We understand the need for this opportunity and its vital role in creating the pipeline for our WMS and BHS Band Programs.
Classroom “sections” have also been reduced for 2025-26 to reflect enrollment
Reduction of 1 Kindergarten section district-wide, there will be two neighborhood sections each at Blakely, Ordway, x̌alilc
Reduction of a K-4 section at Ordway
Reduction of a section at 5-8 Odyssey
Reduction of a 5th-grade section at Sakai
*These reductions are more K-6 focused due to the difference in staffing process for elementary vs. secondary. There will be additional certificated Departmental RIFs K-12 in the coming weeks. Further reductions will occur in the coming weeks for certificated, classified, administration, coach and non-rep positions.
I want to again express my sincere sense of loss and profound concern for all of our staff members. There is no way around this—these are very tough times. I am also immensely grateful for the heart and compassion our staff, students and community have for one another. Pulling together in times of adversity is one of our biggest strengths, and seeing this in action these last few days has been a poignant reminder of why the BISD is such a special place to be.
After sending this message to all of you, I will send a more simplified version of this to our 7th-12th grade students. Parents of Kindergarten through 6th-grade students, please feel free to use excerpts of the letter that may be helpful. Additionally, here are some phrases that may have you if/when your child(ren) has questions:
No one has done anything wrong or is being fired. Your teachers are fantastic, but right now, our district cannot afford to keep all of the staff that they have.
The special adults in your life right now will be there until the end of the school year. You might see them next year in a different school or doing a different job. They will be excited to see you and say hi to you!
All of the adults in the BISD care about you and want to ensure you can keep doing the things you love every day in school. They are working hard to make sure that you don’t feel like things are too different next year in your school world.
I know that you likely have more questions than I have answers, but in the interest of letting our employees know staffing information as soon as possible, we are communicating out early, knowing that this leaves a lot of gray areas for next year. Please know that we are working on these, and I will be communicating updates frequently in order to put together the pieces of this very complicated and important puzzle.
If you want a way to funnel your frustration into action, please Wear Red for Ed and consider attending the 23rd Legislative District Town Hall tomorrow (3/22), BHS Theater, 9:30-11 a.m.
Lastly, I am working side-by-side with Becky Walliman and the Bainbridge Schools Foundation to find creative solutions to “fill the gap” ( i.e., providing extracurricular options such as 6th-grade band). There are still many, many things that we need to work out in this area, but please know that we are aware that some reductions could feel like a loss for students and we are trying to remedy that in the best way possible. Click here if you are interested in learning more or donating to BSF.
Take care,
Amii
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