As recently as last month, the Highland School District didn’t appear able to meet their goal of reducing their budget by $500,000. However, Superintendent Chris Armstrong said they’ve successfully come in at $590,000 in budget adjustment savings for next year, exceeding their goal. One of the ways they were able to save a considerable amount of money was the elimination of the middle school principal position. After the resignation of the principal, they were left with the decision of whether to hire a new one or reorganize administration. They went with the latter.

Armstrong said they’ll operate with two full-time principals with high school principal Angela Hazelett responsible for grades 6-12, and principal Jane O’Leary having main responsibility for Riverside Elementary. Anderson himself will have administrative responsibilities at Ainsworth Elementary during the day. Other ways they were able to save money included rearranging operational sharing and instituting a Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) program.