By THOMAS LUCKIE III

OGDENSBURG -- Ogdensburg City School Superintendent Timothy Vernsey presented information concerning recent retirements and their relation to the anticipated staffing projections and needs of the district for the 2017-18 school year at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting.

Positions that will likely need to be filled include three teaching assistants, two elementary teachers, computer operator, speech therapist, teacher of the speech and hearing handicapped, secondary math teacher, secondary English teacher, social studies teacher, and special education teacher.

While Vernsey stated that he is fairly certain the district will have to find replacements for all of the positions, he stressed the importance of the administration's duty to analyze every position before justifying any new hires.

"With all the cuts we did the previous years, a couple of years ago we reached a point where as people retired we had to replace them," Vernsey said.

Concerning the 2017-18 budget, Vernsey illuminated the fact that hiring new employees with lower salaries than the retirees they will be replacing will save the district some money. However, he also pointed out that the amount saved will be somewhat reduced by the current high costs of insurance.

Vernsey also brought up the lack of certified teachers applying for positions within the district.

"The real problem is finding certified people," he said, before also noting an apparently severe lack of certified social studies teachers in the area.

Currently, the school district's website lists a job opening for a certified speech/language therapist or pathologist in addition to openings for several substitute and part-time positions.