Proposed cuts to next year's school board budget aren't sitting right with some trustees.
At a Simcoe County District School board meeting Wednesday trustees debated proposed cuts to computer technician jobs as well as a plan to use teaching principals at the county's smallest schools.

"The way I look at it is students lose, because the time spent on dealing with (computer problems), is time wasted from the classroom," said trustee Caroline Smith.

Board staff is proposing cutting 10 computer support positions from the budget for next year, including most of its software technicians (CSTs). The technicians currently travel to schools and assist teachers with software issues and help them apply computers to in class curriculum.

SCDSB programming superintendent Lindy Zaretsky said the CSTs' jobs could be done by teacher coaches already employed by the board. She said because the coaches are also teachers, they will be better able to apply technology to classroom scenarios.

"Teachers need to be coaching teachers, not technicians. Training on software is different than teaching on technology integration," said Zaretsky.

The proposal is part of the board's plan to further integrate technology into classrooms.
Some of the board's computer software technicians were at Wednesday's meeting and said they disagree with the board staff's argument. Ron Maltin has been a technician with the SCDSB for the past two years. He questioned whether the proposed teacher coaches would be able to solve computer issues as quickly as the technicians.

"Teachers for the most part don't have time to spend learning these things completely," said Maltin. "Some of these coaches are already in the system now and they are asking us questions all the time. It makes it pretty difficult to answer these questions knowing what some of the (board) administration is trying to do. This isn't being done to help the students."

He said in the past two years, the board's computer help desk has responded to more than 11,000 requests for assistance, and those only include the formal requests. They don't include the times teachers might stop him in the hallway and ask for help.

Under the budget proposal, three technicians would be retained and moved to the Education Centre in Midhurst, where they would provide remote support to schools.

Trustee Donna Armstrong tabled a motion to limit the number of cuts to the software technicians, in an attempt to phase in the process.
Zaretsky said the teacher coaches have been trained during the past year and they are ready to be implemented now.

The cut to computer support wasn't the only issue debated at the meeting. Some trustees are still trying to come to terms with a board proposal to use teaching principals in its smallest schools.

Under the proposed budget, principals at elementary schools with fewer than 200 students would be responsible for teaching the equivalent of one day a week. The measure would free up administrative funding to allow for more vice-principals at larger schools, something that has been sorely needed for the past several years, said associate director of education Lou Brandes.

The principals would be responsible for covering regular teachers' prep time and other similar assignments. Trustee Nancy Halbert was concerned that with all of their other duties, principals would not have the time to properly prepare for teaching a classroom.

"What parents feel is that the principals are going to slip into a babysitting role, and not a teaching role," she said.
Board staff said the principals would mainly be teaching in areas of their expertise or interest.
The meeting was part of the board's ongoing budget process. The debate is expected to continue at the next meeting, June 10.