[KHTS] – Castaic Union School District’s longest serving K-12 superintendent, Jim Gibson, will serve his final day Monday.

Gibson was placed on paid non-disciplinary administrative leave on May 4 by the Castaic Union School District’s Board of Trustees.

In a statement following the announcement of Gibson’s administrative leave in May, the district’s Board of Trustees President Steve Teeman said it was a “personnel matter that has not yet been resolved.”

Teeman added that speculation swirling around assistant Superintendent Janene Maxon replacing Gibson was, “premature.”

Last spring, the district realized a $4.1 million shortfall in its budget, prompting a series of community meetings and alarm from parents as service reductions were announced.

School officials are in the process of cutting $4.1 million from the operating budget through layoffs of 30 teachers across the district ($2.36 million); a reduction in classified staff, the equivalent of 13 full-time positions ($417,000); reductions in administrative staff expected to save more than $340,000; $50,000 in reduced transportation services; and a reduction of $300,000 annually in services.

The district also decided to move its sixth-grade classrooms to the elementary school, from the middle school, which is expected to save a little more than $230,000.

Some of the significant factors contributing to the District’s financial condition are: 1) consecutive recessionary years without sufficient offsetting budget reductions for expenditures, 2) internal and external borrowings that mask the significance of cash flow shortages, and 3) declining local enrollment of students.

The district had been using short-term borrowing from inter-fund reserves and external sources, according to auditors.