The Poughkeepsie City School District is embarking on an exciting initiative to restructure its administrative organization over the next two years.

The idea, Assistant Superintendent of Elementary Education Greg Mott said, is to “reimagine and repurpose” the district’s structure and resources to best serve students’ needs amid a challenging financial landscape. The district is taking these measures while preserving positions within each school building and is, in fact, adding staffing.

District officials introduced the initiative during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting, at which the board approved eliminating four administrative positions, resulting in a $400,000 savings in the proposed 2025-26 budget for the academic year. An in-depth presentation on the framework of the district’s plans is scheduled for the board’s May 7 meeting.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Eric Jay Rosser explained the initiative was borne of the budget process in which, this year, the district is expecting its state aid to increase by just 2% and expenses continue to increase at a greater rate.

“Each year, we find ourselves reanalyzing our central office and our organization. We take the time each year to identify ways in which we can be more effective and more efficient with fewer individuals who have different titles,” Superintendent of Schools Dr. Eric Jay Rosser explained to the board. “Based on the challenges of our budget and all the things that are priorities – such as transportation, making sure that families have after-school programming for their youngsters five days a week versus three days a week … we’ve been forced to really take a look at our central office.”

The four positions eliminated by the board Tuesday included director of secondary education, executive director of community schools, supervisor of secondary education and assistant superintendent of elementary education. Mott, who occupies the latter of those positions, is poised to become the interim superintendent of schools July 1 after Rosser leaves his position.

The mission of the reorganization includes, but is not limited to:

• Enhancing services and programming.
• Providing greater support to building leaders and teachers.
• Strengthening and focusing the district’s approach toward encouraging student achievement.
• Streamline central office functions
• Reducing district supervision costs and reallocating funds to key initiatives.

The administrators who occupy the eliminated positions – which take effect June 30 – are able to reapply for positions within the district.

“There is a human factor in all of this,” board President Fatimah Carmen Martinez Santiago said. “These are four positions. … They don’t necessarily have to leave the school district.”

“This is not about people, it’s about positions,” board member Kelleyann Royce-Giron emphasized.

Rosser at the meeting used the Community Schools Department as an example of how the reorganization will not impact student services. He noted the department currently has two administrators with roles leading the department, the executive director and the newly hired assistant superintendent of student support services and family and community engagement – in addition to the superintendent himself, who has inherent community connecting responsibilities – and all eight staff members charged with implementing programs in schools remain intact.

“The proposal to eliminate this particular title in our organization will not result in the Community Schools model being at a deficit. It will not result in students not receiving the wonderful and fabulous things they’ve been receiving over the last several years,” Rosser said.

Rosser said as the process of retitling positions commences, the district is ensuring there is a balance of support for students of all ages. “We’re having conversations internally about what that looks like,” he said. “We’ll be finalizing that before our May 7 meeting.”