The position is being eliminated as part of a reduction in force, Anthony Malavenda, director of human resources for the school system, said Monday.

A half-time teacher from Bristol Central will replace the Eastern teacher, Michelle Peterson, who has less seniority.

In an effort to balance the teaching staffs at the two city high schools, school administrators at Bristol Central were asked to reduce their staff by the equivalent of a full-time teacher. The Bristol Central half-time art teacher was transferred to Bristol Eastern, Malavenda said.

Another half-time teacher from the science department at Bristol Central will be transferred to another vacancy in the school district.

Usually, administrators are able to switch staff around to other vacant positions in the district, he added.

"It’s been a long time" since the school system has had to terminate a teacher’s contract because of a reduction in force, Malavenda added. In this case, it was a matter of the teacher not having certification in another area besides art education, he said.

According to Martin Semmel, assistant principal at Bristol Central, the loss of half of an art teacher position "is going to have an impact."

"We tried to find a way to make it less of an impact," Semmel said. The school eliminated three sections of pottery and combined other sections in order to cancel the fewest number of sections.

A half-time instructor teaches six sections a semester, Semmel said. By condensing three smaller sections of other art offerings -- such as design, photography and fiber -- students will have three fewer offerings instead of six, Semmel explained.

The high school did gain another full-time position, Semmel said. That teaching position was actually split into two jobs: a half-time Spanish instructor and a half-time math teacher. Math and Spanish have faced the largest class sizes and staff in those subject areas have had the biggest class loads -- some teachers have over 130 students in some cases.

Malavenda said teachers may be moved around until school begins because enrollment figures change over the summer. Administrators often make adjustments up until the last minute, he said.

Another half-time position at Chippens Hill is scheduled to be eliminated and was announced at the school board budget meeting a few weeks ago.