GLOUSTER, Ohio — The Trimble Local School District will let go around a dozen teachers soon amid its financial crisis.
In January, the Ohio Auditor of State placed the district under fiscal watch, due to this year’s projected $1.6 million deficit.
According to meeting minutes, at its Thurdsay, Feb. 13 meeting, the board approved a motion to notify the school’s labor unions that the board “intends to implement a reduction in force for financial reasons, in accordance with the requirements of their respective Negotiated Agreements.” The unions are the Trimble Local Teachers Association and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1351.
On Wednesday, Trimble Local Teachers Association President Rex Millhone said in an email to the Independent that the union has met with the “12 teachers being let go and [the terminations] should be on the board agenda to be approved Monday the 24th.”
Among those are one teacher each from third, fourth and fifth grades; a middle school math teacher, a high school English teacher, a high school math teacher, two intervention specialists, an elementary technology teacher, a reading intervention specialist, and a pre-school position.
Millhone said the union has “had some huge issues,” because its contract with the district does not specify procedures for “bumping” — in which the teachers in the positions eliminated can “bump” another teacher who has less experience and education as long as they have the same grade level and/or subject licensure.
“We were under the impression that we would use this [bumping] process,” Millhone said. “Unfortunately it didn’t work that way. [The] union is really struggling with these cuts and the overall morale is very low. We have three teachers losing their jobs that have dedicated five, seven and eight years to this district. We believe that lower senior members should have been cut.”
Under the terms of the Trimble Local Teachers Association contract, the district must notify the union 30 days before the meeting in which the board will vote on a reduction in force. The notice must also include the specific positions affected. Teachers whose positions will be cut must also be notified by the board at least 10 days before that board meeting.
AFSCME Local 1351’s contract requires at least 15 days’ notice for a reduction in force. A representative from AFSCME did not immediately return a request for comment.
“Communication has been very lacking and staff just feels out of the loop with our financial situation,” Millhone, the teachers association president, said.
“We are very concerned about how our buildings will run next year if there’s only one principal at our elem [sic]/middle school,” Millhone said in an email. (The combined elementary and middle school has both a principal and an assistant principal.)
“Overall, I think the staff simply feels lost in the process without much leadership from the top administration. We do all understand that these cuts had to be made and it’s not easy on anyone. I personally hope for no more cuts, but do worry about it.”
Neither Trimble Local School District Superintendent John Hurd or Treasurer Ashley Miller have yet responded to questions sent via email in January and last week.
Teachers speak out
Also on March 13, three faculty members voiced concerns for the district’s circumstances.
Teacher Andy Hronec expressed sympathy for the board amid a challenging time. This year is his sixth teaching in the district and second year coaching football.
“I love it — I love this place, I love my coworkers, love my students, love my players. This is like my second family,” Hronec said. However, he said he is both “heartbroken” and “angry” about the district’s financial situation.
“I’m heartbroken because I know things are never going to be the same,” he said. “There are going to be colleagues they’ll have to say goodbye to. There are going to be students that are going to miss out on these positive and healthy relationships they’ve built with not just teachers, but staff members — everyone in these buildings.”
Hronec described his colleagues.
“Best in education, and they genuinely make a difference, and now that I fear the progress that we’ve made might be reset … Unfortunately, I know we’re going to be losing administrators, colleagues, all that. I know we are unfortunately headed towards a major setback that is going to be difficult to remember,” he said.
“I’m angry because I feel the situation we find ourselves in could have been avoided,” Hronec said. He said he understood that the board can’t openly discuss certain issues, noting that he can only infer –– “And I don’t like doing that,” he said –– and stressed that he was not blaming anyone in particular for the circumstances.
“I know and I feel strongly that this could have been avoided. I wish that we received more information; that we received more transparency going forward,” Hronec said. “Collaboration, communication are some of the key concepts that keep districts afloat and alive and successful.”
Hronec continued: “I don’t think ‘sorry’ is sufficient right now. Instead of saying ‘sorry,’ let’s do better, right? We all need to do better. We need to be better for the kids, coworkers, staff, employees.”
Hronec said he hopes the district learns from this experience.
“I hope you learn and grow and move on from this, I hope you find solutions,” Hronec said. “I know you’ve all been tasked with something difficult. You know, my hat’s off. I wouldn’t want to be doing what you’re doing. But see from our perspective, too — where kids are coming up to me and asking, ‘Are you going to have a job next year?’”
Teacher Heike Perko also voiced concerns about losing colleagues amid a reduction in force.
“I’m an immigrant — I’ve never felt really at home anywhere,” Perko said. “And I’ve moved around this country, and I’ve had lots of jobs, and Trimble’s made me feel at home. I moved to this country in 1988, and I can truly say that the staff out here, and the families out here, have made me feel at home.”
Eliminating one of the elementary/middle school principals could jeopardize progress there, Perko said.
“If we go back to one principal, we will fall back into our old faults — not because we want to, but because there’s only so many of us and there’s only so much we can do,” Perko said. “Our principals have created an environment that not only makes students feel safe, but also teachers. We feel safe with our principals … I urge you somehow to look at your budget and find a way to do two principles in our building.”
Teacher and parent Jamie Friel also commended the district for the quality of its instruction, but said she was worried about losing progress in her child’s development.
“I have a child who has been here in Trimble for the last three years,” Friel said. “And if you would have known him the minute he walked into this building … he was non-verbal. And if you would look at him now, he is talking, he is doing gen-ed [sic] class work. He is keeping up with his peers as well as he can, and that is because of the things that we have in place in our building, one of which are the intervention specialists.”
Friel said she fears that if the district cuts intervention specialists positions in the elementary school, children may “fall through the cracks even more than what they already are, because we know that happens.”
“If we cut in the special education department, and we cut those ISs, what’s going to happen to those kids?” Friel said. “We’re doing them a disservice by not allowing them to have access to the things that they need, by taking away their specialist. And I wanted to come here for my child and all the other children that I — even students in my own classroom, or that I see in the building, or in the community — and I want to speak for them, because if we don’t, who will.”
Meeting attendees — at least 50 people — throughout the library were visibly emotional, wiping away tears listening to their colleagues speak and reacting with applause.
Treasurer shares update
Employees of the Trimble Local School District voiced concerns about potential impacts of the district’s budget crisis at a board of education’s meeting on March 13.
In a brief update, Miller told the board that the state has not yet moved the district into fiscal emergency, as the district requested last year, in December 2024.
Miller said that a state audit remains underway, but is “taking a little longer than they anticipated.” The audit will allow the state to determine a final “number that they’re gonna give us,” Miller said.
Miller noted that, “A deficit of [10%] to 15% is required to be put into fiscal emergency and we’re well within those margins, we believe.”
Miller said the district anticipates receiving assistance in April or May, but added that if assistance is delayed until May it would put the district in a “tough spot.”
The district will “need to hold at least — at a minimum — a million dollars to make sure we make payroll in April,” Miller said.
Within 15 days of being officially declared in fiscal emergency, the district and the state will form a Financial Planning and Supervision Commission that may take on some, if not all, powers of the board of education. The eight-member commission will then develop a plan to address the district’s financial crisis.
The Ohio Auditor of State declined to comment for this story. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce did not respond to an emailed inquiry in time for publication.
In January, the district authorized a $25,000 contract with Shared Services Alliance for consulting amid its financial crisis.
At the March 13 board meeting, Shared Services Alliance’s Bob Hancock — former treasurer of Hamilton City School District Bob Hancock — assured the board that while the district is facing major issues, it’s not the worst he’s ever seen. He also stressed that it can take years for districts to navigate fiscal emergencies.
“If you go into fiscal emergency, this is not something you jump into and jump out,” Hancock said. “It takes time.”
In other business, the board discussed selling property to Trimble Township; expanding dedicated transportation to drop off students participating in the Boys and Girls Club of Glouster; a student’s robotic rabbit project; and a seventh grade spring break trip to Camp Oty’Okwa.
The Trimble Local Board of Education meets the second Thursday of each month at 6 p.m. at the Trimble Local School District office, 1 Tomcat Drive, Glouster.
Correction: A previous version of this article misspelled Rex Millhone’s last name. We apologize for the error.
