September 28, 2026

Dear Newburgh Families, Staff, and Community Members,

You may have seen a recent letter from CSEA Unit #7910 Leadership to the Board of Education raising concerns about support staffing across the district, including whether opening our new CTE building has taken staff away from other schools. Our CSEA members, which include our custodians, cleaners, clerical staff, security personnel, and food service workers, are essential to our schools. Their concerns deserve a clear and factual response, and I want our community to have the full picture.

A plan the Board reviewed and approved

Opening a new building requires more than simply adding positions. As enrollment of our student population shifted, the district proposed a staffing plan that included reorganization of staff while staying within the budget limits set by the Board of Education. The plan was reviewed with the Board, presented to the community at multiple budget presentations last spring, and approved. 

We have followed that plan.

Student enrollment across the district has stayed the same. When students moved, some staff moved with them. Additionally, as originally proposed, we also added clerical, custodial, security, and food services staff where we anticipated need. We remain fully dedicated to appropriately staffing our schools, as evidenced by the new positions approved during the last two Board meetings and the additional positions proposed to be added on this week's agenda. 

As with any new process, full operational rollout allows us to pinpoint where improvements are needed. We are already using what we’ve learned in the first few days to make real-time tweaks and updates.

Staffing across the district

As of September 24, 2026, the district employs 95 custodial staff. NFA Main remains our largest and most heavily staffed building, with 15 custodial staff members. Our middle schools and larger elementary schools each have between 6 and 8, and our smaller elementary schools each have 3 to 4. Four (4) custodial positions are currently open, and all of them are posted. Since March, we have budgeted for and actively recruited for 17 custodial positions. 

Many of our current vacancies are the result of something positive – we have been promoting from within, and eleven employees now serve in higher titles, allowing our community to grow professionally and earn higher wages. At CSEA's request, promoted employees move into their new roles within an agreed upon timeline, which also leaves a position empty while we recruit. 

Our commitment to CSEA members

Our 2023 agreement with CSEA provided wage increases totaling 9.5% over three years, plus step increases. It also raised starting pay across many titles, created new stipends recognizing added workload for cooks, lunch managers, health clerks, bilingual staff, and teacher aides, increased the summer pay rate for food service workers, and guaranteed extra pay for cleaners who cover an absent colleague's work.

That commitment continues. 

Desk audits are underway with Civil Service to make sure positions are correctly classified, and we have negotiated additional agreements with CSEA to compensate members of the unit for additional work. 

CSEA members also serve on leadership teams across our schools, because their voices matter.

Working through the process correctly

The district and CSEA have an established labor-management process that gives union leaders a direct way to raise concerns and lets us work toward solutions together. The staffing concerns posed in the CSEA Unit #7910 leadership’s letter were not raised through that process. They were sent directly to the Board of Education on the sixth day of school, bypassing the standard, contractual process and the Superintendent, who makes the ultimate staffing recommendations. Had those concerns come through the labor-management process, a response would have been provided directly. Prior to being alerted of the letter, our operations directors had already identified needs, and we had begun the process of adding personnel and funding allocations to close coverage gaps. 

We welcome CSEA's input and believe labor-management is the best way to address concerns quickly and together, as per the mutually agreed upon contract that is in place.

Next steps

This work did not begin with the letter from CSEA Unit #7910 leadership. Responding responsibly takes time: we review each need, identify funding, and bring recommendations to the Board of Education for approval. That process was already well underway and is continuous as needs are anticipated or arise organically. 

At the next board meeting (tomorrow), we will recommend that the Board approve an additional maintenance position to support grounds maintenance, along with an additional security position. These recommendations build on the staffing additions the Board approved at its last two meetings. 

Staffing is one of the largest drivers of our budget, so decisions about adding staff are part of our overall budget development process. Each year, administration builds the budget within the fiscal parameters set by the Board of Education, and both the Board and administration are committed to honoring those parameters.

We develop every budget with our community in mind. Our community has consistently told us that fiscal responsibility matters, and we have listened. Maintaining that commitment means every staffing decision involves careful choices about how resources are balanced across the district to best support our students.

We will continue to bring staffing needs forward openly and keep our community informed through our Board of Education business meetings. Agendas are available on BoardDocs through our website and meetings can be streamed on our YouTube channel. 

We share the same goal as our CSEA members: safe, clean, well-run schools for every student. I am grateful to every employee who makes that happen each day, and I remain committed to working toward solutions together.

Sincerely,

Dr. Jackielyn Manning Campbell
Superintendent of Schools