Districts consider sharing a teacher

Canjo employee also would teach at Fonda

By KERRY McAVOY/The Leader-Herald

FONDA - The Fonda-Fultonville and Canajoharie central school districts soon may share a teacher as a way to save some dinero.

Fonda-Fultonville Superintendent James Hoffman said Thursday the two were in talks to share a Spanish teacher between the two districts.

Hoffman said a Spanish teacher recently retired from his district, and instead of hiring a replacement, he called the administration at Canajoharie to see if anyone was available to teach Spanish at Fonda-Fultonville part-time.

"We had to do something," Hoffman said.

Canajoharie Superintendent Richard Rose said this morning his district has an advanced Spanish teacher who could be reduced to part-time status at his school and spend the rest of her work week at Fonda-Fultonville.

Fonda-Fultonville would pay Canajoharie part of the teacher's salary.

The teacher still would be considered a full-time employee of the Canajoharie Central School District and still would accrue retirement benefits as such.

The sharing agreement would be between the two districts, independent of the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery Counties Board of Cooperative Educational Services, which has some itinerant employees such as counselors who work among multiple school districts.

As New York state struggles with a budget crisis, many area school districts are exploring the potential savings of shared services. St. Johnsville, Fort Plain, Oppenheim-Ephratah and Dolgeville schools all have service agreements or have begun discussing sharing services this year as a way to save money.

St. Johnsville and Fort Plain have been in talks recently about making joint purchases to save money. The two also have shared some transportation services over the past two years.

St. Johnsville Central School officials also have talked with Oppenheim-Ephratah officials about allowing students to attend specialized classes on each other's campuses. They also have discussed the possibility of combining some sports teams.

Oppenheim-Ephratah shares a cafeteria manager with the Dolgeville Central School District.

St. Johnsville and Fort Plain schools have been sharing some transportation services for about two years.

Rose said if the part-time plan works out, he would consider looking at other teacher-sharing plans with area school districts.

"The silver lining of the fiscal crisis is all of us are looking for ways to cut spending," Rose said.

The Fonda-Fultonville school board is set to discuss the teacher-sharing proposal during Monday night's Board of Education meeting. The meeting is set for 6:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room of the high school in Fonda.

Kerry McAvoy covers Montgomery County. She can be reached by e-mail at montco@leaderherald.com