MARYSVILLE — While last year saw the Marysville School District sending Reduction In Force notices to more than 50 certificated employees, MSD Superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland reported that only seven such individuals received RIF notices prior to the May 15 deadline this year.

“Most of those were carried over from the previous year,” Nyland said. “We had 4.6 FTE positions which received RIF notices a year ago and were never recalled, but they retained their rights under contract as part of the teachers employee group. There were only 1.4 FTE position that received new notices this year, which is no more than two employees.”

Both employees were at the high school level, in visual arts and Japanese. Nyland noted that the total district staffing would be down 29 teachers and TOSAs for next year. Most of those positions will be reduced through attrition rather than Reductions In Force, much of it through resignations and retirements.

“Last year, we had this big number that needed to be addressed, and there didn’t seem to be as many resignations or retirements as in other years,” Nyland said. “This year, we have a smaller number, and a lot of people seem to have put off their retirements or moves until this year.”

While Nyland described it as a “heart-wrenching decision” to let go of any employees, he pointed out the needs of balancing the budget and the progress made since last year.

“The individual impact is still more than we’d like, but it’s far less than last year,” Nyland said.