PORT ANGELES — With a unanimous vote, the Port Angeles School Board agreed Monday night to the proposed cuts in next year’s school budget.
The cuts total $498,500 and include phasing out the Japanese foreign language program, eliminating the district’s director of information technology and closing the library processing center.
The board also agreed to cut the freshman softball and baseball teams, but only as a last resort after district administrators review potential savings from joining the newly formed Olympic League.
The Olympic League includes schools on the Peninsula, central Kitsap County, Port Townsend, Sequim and north Mason County, and Port Angeles decided to join it in January after high school sports teams in the state were reclassified.
The move could save the district between $9,000 and $11,500 in travel costs next year, according to Scott Brodhun, the district’s athletic director.
Schools Superintendent Gary Cohn said the travel savings coupled with eliminating the freshman soccer coach positions, because there are currently no freshman soccer teams, could be enough.
However, the projected travel savings could diminish as fuel costs continue to increase, Cohn said.
