Lee County superintendent speaks on hiring freeze

The Lee County School District has implemented a hiring freeze at its central office, a decision Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin made to save money and redirect funds into classrooms and schools.

Dr. Carlin spoke exclusively to WINK News, explaining the freeze’s impact and the district’s plans for the saved funds.

• RELATED: Lee County School District central office under hiring freeze; superintendent weighs in

She confirmed that positions directly supporting schools, such as occupational therapists and speech and language pathologists, will not be affected.

“There were a few that looked like they might be central office positions, but they’re really in support of schools, like an occupational therapist that’s very important that might be hired from our Central Division, like for special education. But guess what? Those folks go out and work with schools,” said Carlin.

She emphasized that the freeze will not impact school-level positions such as bus drivers or food service workers.

“If it affects a school, if it’s a bus driver or somebody may food service worker that’s going to be in the schools, the answer is absolutely not frozen,” said Carlin.

Carlin said she’s looking into the exact savings from the hiring freeze, but that any saved funds will be allocated to “district priorities.”

“Things like safe schools, teacher compensation, those types of things. That’s what we’re trying to do, very hard at the central office, is to model the way to show the district and to show our community that I am serious about my commitment relative to fiscal responsibility,” said Carlin.

When asked if other departments might face a hiring freeze, Carlin made it clear that the focus remains on the central office.

“I have no intention of slowing things down at the schools. We’re short on teachers. We’re short on bus drivers. We can’t afford to have a freeze on anything that’s going to impact children, and so this is purely at the central office, the central office staff and that’s really all we’re doing at this point. Again, [it’s] very, very common this time of year,” said Carlin.

Carlin described the changes as “right-sizing,” not downsizing. The hiring freeze is set to be lifted on July 1, but Carlin plans to present her recommendations for changes to the school board in April.