An administrative restructuring plan announced Monday for Lawrence’s public schools includes carving up three top positions into two.

And after the restructuring is complete on July 1, the overall savings in administrative costs could be about $80,000 to $90,000, Superintendent Randy Weseman said.

The plan, which will go to the school board next Monday, came about because several longtime top-level administrators plan to retire at the end of the school year.

“We’re always looking for ways to be more efficient and to provide better service at the lowest possible cost,” Weseman said.

The restructuring was spurred by the June retirements of Sandee Crowther, Tom Christie and Janice Nicklaus, who together lead the school system’s programming and planning functions. Each is paid $104,000 a year, Weseman said.

Also, Dan Neuenswander, a former superintendent who came out of retirement to work part-time as a $50,000-a-year school improvement specialist, is resigning.

The change will divide the district’s administrative organization into two parts:

¢ A teaching and learning division administered by a chief academic officer who will be paid between $95,000 and $100,000. Weseman said that post will be taken by Kim Bodensteiner, principal at Cordley School who serves as the district’s lead negotiator in contract talks with the Lawrence Education Association.

Bodensteiner will supervise the operation of the teaching and learning functions of the school system, including curriculum, instruction and student intervention services, professional development and planning and program improvement.

¢ An administrative support division led by a chief operations officer at a salary in the $110,000 range. That post will be taken by Mary Rodriguez, who is now executive director of human resources.

As chief operations officer, Rodriguez would have oversight of the divisions of human resources, finance, facilities and operations, and food services.

Rodriguez has led the district’s human resources department since 1999 after serving as an assistant principal for four years and a business teacher for 17 years at Lawrence High School.

Weseman said Rodriguez’s current post, which will become division director of human resources for certified employees, would be filled by David Cunningham, who is an attorney with the Kansas Association of School Boards. He will make $85,000 to $90,000 in that position, Weseman said.

Weseman said there are several other middle-level administrative posts that he will be filling.

Those include Bodensteiner’s post as principal, Nuenswander’s position with a lower-level administrative post, and two more positions opening up with the retirements of Lynda Allen, director of mathematics and science, and Nancy Horner, director of libraries.