Hempfield Area School District is looking to add another layer of oversight to the curriculum at its five elementary schools.

The school board will vote next week on assigning one chairperson per K-5 grade level. Each chairperson would help ensure continuity in learning at the district’s Fort Allen, West Point, Maxwell, West Hempfield and Stanwood elementary schools, said Assistant Superintendent Matthew Conner.

“With only five building principals across the elementary schools, when you look at the sheer number of grade levels, departments … at the elementary level, it’s just a lot,” Conner said.

Existing staff members would hold the chairperson positions, receiving a $3,355 pay bump for the added responsibility.

Hempfield Area has department heads at the middle and high school levels to represent each subject — including science, math and English, Conner said. The elementary schools did away with such oversight about eight or nine years ago while working to cut district expenses, he said.

District administrators met over the summer with the veteran educators they hope to appoint to the chairperson positions, Conner said.

“These people have been around. They’ve actually lived through what has worked, what hasn’t worked and what they really want to see improved,” he said.

“One of the things that I’m really looking at is…we’re anticipating a lot of retirements in the next couple of years, so having some structures and systems in place will really help when we have those new staff coming on board, to make sure that we set them up for success.”

Between 100 and 120 teachers are expected to retire in the next few years, Superintendent Mark Holtzman said during a March school board meeting.

To free up district dollars for the chairperson positions, Hempfield Area earlier this year eliminated a few supplemental positions whose responsibilities could be absorbed by other existing staff, Holtzman said.

“We eliminated some and we created some so we could offset some of those costs,” he said. “But there (were) not representatives for each of those grade levels to create that continuity amongst schools and things of that nature.

“It’s something they’ve been asking for year after year. … It’s a little bit of an additional cost, but I think it’s a worthwhile decision.”

The school board will vote on the matter at its next meeting, slated for 7 p.m. Monday at the Hempfield Area administration building.

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