School Committee

The Cambridge School Committee, in an unexpected and unprecedented move, voted late Thursday night not to reappoint the entire high school administrative staff next year.

The committee can, and probably will, rescind the decision later this summer, sources said. However, the administrators' contract requires that they be notified by April 15 if there is a chance they will be fired.

"We were just keeping our options open," one councilor said.

"It's a very unpleasant to task to have to send these letters to loyal and qualified staff," Glenn Koocher '73, chairman of the school committee's budget subcommittee, said Thursday. "Because of the current budgetary crisis, however, we have to keep our options open as much as we can," Koocher added.

If the school committee had not voted to send the letter, the teachers and administrators would have been guaranteed their jobs for next year.

Because of inflation and limits on municipal spending, next year's school budget calls for a reduction of 60 to 70 teachers from the current staff.

The school committee will give final consideration to the moves in a meeting next Monday.