In a special board meeting held Thursday night, the Denair Unified School District continued to process cuts for the 2013-14 school year in an effort to avoid financial insolvency.

Denair trustees unanimously voted to give four furlough days to five confidential classified employees, effective Feb. 1, for an estimated $6,184 savings for the district.

The district also accepted the resignation of Denair Charter Academy principal, Karla Paul.  Paul will be working with special education students at Ceres Unified starting Feb. 1.

“We wish you the best,” said Superintendent Ed Parraz.  “You were a wonderful asset to our district and you will be missed.”

The district has yet to negotiate cuts with the Denair Unified Teacher Association.  DUSD teachers were given a 3.5 percent salary cut in addition to cutting four school days and one training day from the year. The board and DUTA will meet again to discuss pay cuts on Feb. 11. 

Over the next 18 months, Denair must cut $1.4 million in ongoing spending in order to avoid a state takeover.

Management salary cuts and staff layoffs will save the district an estimated $1million.

“We’re back and we’re working hard in our recovery plan,” said Parraz.  “We have a little more to go, but we’ll get there.”

In December, the board voted to lay off its 18 hourly employees from Denair Charter School and an additional four teachers including one maintenance supervisor.  Parraz consented to give up a 10 percent cut from his $120,000 annual salary while board members Julian Wren and Louisa Allen volunteered to give up their $4,000 stipends in order to reduce the budget.

Board members will meet on Feb. 14 to discuss new policies on intradistrict transfers. There are currently 50 out of 205 Denair Academic Avenues students who live outside the Denair boundaries.