PORTLAND — Portland Superintendent of Schools Jim Morse will ask the Board of Education on Tuesday night to add five people to the system’s teaching staff to meet enrollment and health-related needs.

Morse in a memo to the board said classroom space constraints at the four elementary schools will only allow him to hire one classroom teacher, with the remaining positions being filled by educational technicians.

He is proposing that Portland hire one kindergarten teacher at Reiche Elementary School for about $50,000; an educational technician for kindergarten and an educational technician for fourth grade at Ocean Avenue Elementary School, and an educational technician for fifth grade at the Presumpscot Elementary School.

Morse is also asking that the board authorize hiring a medical educational technician who would assist school nurses working  with “medically fragile” students attending the Lyseth Elementary School. Some of those students, who are from the West School and Baxter School for the Deaf, have ‘intense needs for nursing services,’ according to Morse.

Morse said an ed tech’s salary is about $25,000.

Funding to cover all the positions will come from the overall savings that resulted from replacing staff at the top of the wage scale who retired with less expensive staff.

The board is scheduled to meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in Room 250 of the Casco Bay High School.


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