The school board voted unanimously to postpone a decision on the superintendent’s request to create a full-time librarian job for the middle and high school — a position that has not existed for years.

The board deferred action on the new position after hearing concerns raised by parents and teachers at the Dec. 15 board meeting, which was held by Zoom due to weather conditions that prevented an in-person meeting.

Board President John DeRuyter said the board didn’t approve adding the position to the budget — at an estimated cost of about $73,000 in wages and benefits for the rest of the school year — due to lack of information.

“Some of the board members simply didn’t have enough information to hold the vote,” DeRuyter said in an interview Thursday, Dec. 18.

“Today I asked Kim (Kimberly Powell, the school district’s administrative assistant) to schedule a work session before our next board meeting to discuss this topic in a public community forum that doesn’t have the protocol limitations of a formal board meeting.”

DeRuyter said he anticipates the meeting would be sometime in January.

Schools Superintendent Joshua Garrett’s proposal was that the librarian would also function as a media literacy teacher. He said this would address broader needs across middle school and high school grades.

Parent Alexis Fiske spoke at the Dec. 15 meeting. She questioned the prioritization of funding for a new position.

“I am particularly concerned about the decision to prioritize funding for a new K-12 certified librarian media and literacy teacher position after a year in which our district lost two teaching positions,” Fiske said.

Fiske noted that she has a child in the special education program.

“If funding is available to create a new position, I respectfully ask why the needs of our students with disabilities are being overlooked,” she said.

Fourth grade teacher Brian Merritt also addressed the board. He said schools have lost paraprofessionals for 20 years. He blamed low pay and a lack of benefits.

“In order to keep quality people on our staff we need to be competitive and pay or at least provide benefits,” Merritt said.

“It’s been brought to the staff’s attention that we have some extra money in our budget,” he said. “If we have extra money, the paraprofessionals and subs are long overdue for a raise.”

Merritt told the board that the school district hasn’t had a librarian for the past 25 years.

The funding for the proposed position would come from the district’s operating budget, not a new grant, Garrett said.

Budgetary concerns caused spending cuts back in May.

Garrett discussed the situation in an interview Dec. 16 and acknowledged the history of budget cuts.

“I get it. For the past however many years, the conversation has been about making cuts,” he said. “We aren’t dealing with large excesses of money right now, but there is a little bit of a buffer.”

Garrett described his proposal as an attempt to expand services. He wants to benefit all students in the district.

“It could help middle school students get ready for high school, and it could help high school students get ready for college.”

The superintendent acknowledged there is a systemic problem with providing services for special education students.

“I think part of the problem is that those paraprofessionals have been getting pulled to substitute teach, and that gets them away from the interventions with special education,” he said.

Garrett reported the district recently added five new substitute teachers. He said he hopes this will alleviate the pressure on paraprofessionals.

He said he understands the community concerns and believes the district’s financial picture will become clearer soon, saying the district aims to have a rough budget ready by early February.