West Hempstead Residents Speak Out Against Proposed Budget Cuts

“Smartboards don’t do the teaching.  Teachers do the teaching,” said student Julia Waterhouse to the West Hempstead school board members and administrators Tuesday night.  “[Because of them] my parents were proud of me for the first time…I think you’re making a big mistake by firing them.”

Assistant Superintendent Ann Peluso delivered the news of the proposed cuts for the school district at this week's budget review and Superintendent John Hogan defended the decisions.

The West Hempstead board of education has found itself in a difficult position.  In trying to close the $2.4 million deficit in the 2011-2012 budget, cuts in the most recent draft would result in the loss of several teachers, administrators, nurses, and other beloved staff and programs. The school board admitted it is a bad economic situation, but they are doing their best to make it as painless as possible.

New York public schools must layoff teachers based on seniority, regardless of teaching ability, and West Hempstead will have to follow this protocol if the latest budget draft is adopted, losing several passionate and dedicated staff members.

The entire board was visibly regretful in their decision to excess staff, some speaking from personal experience, but said they have little choice because of the new laws.  They told those in attendance at the March 8 meeting that they are reluctant to let go of newly hired staff members who have become an integral part of students’ lives.

“We’re all upset about the loss of teachers and we’ve agonized over these cuts,” said Board President Pamela Lotito. “We’re very proud of our teaching staff.”

However, grant money is scarce and enrollment is dropping every year, according to school officials. In an ideal world, they said they would opt to keep all the staff members and have smaller class sizes with enough money leftover to replace broken kilns, repair crumbling walls, put a SmartBoard in every classroom and an iPad in every student’s hands. Realistically, the money doesn’t yet exist to do so, at least not this year, and so cuts must be made.

“We are faced with difficult economic times and [West Hempstead] is not immune to that,” said Superintendent Hogan. “We didn’t come here to preside over the decline of education, but we didn’t come here expecting the economy to tank either.

"Our vision is that every boy and girl will go through our district, every one of them will get a Regents’ diploma…whether I do that with $100 in my pocket or $75, I’ll do it.” 

 PROPOSED STAFF CHANGES

Teachers

The most unwanted cuts come in the form of about eight teachers across the district.  Several high school students spoke in support of those being excessed.  Their preparation and eloquence was a testament to the quality of the education given to them by the very teachers they defended.

“If there is a decrease in the amount of teachers and an increase in class sizes,” reasoned senior Emily Weiner, “that decreases my ability to concentrate.  There will then be a decrease in test scores.  How do you plan on fixing that?”

“The decrease in staff is related to a decrease in enrollment,” replied Hogan, after the applause died down.  (The average class size would increase to between 30 and 32.)

“Our goal is to maintain it the best we can," Hogan added.

Trying to save their staff, the residents gathered at the meeting searched for alternative cuts from any other program to avoid excessing faculty.

“Could you consider using volunteers for translation services?” proposed Eileen Hoffman, but her suggestion was denied because it would be a breach of the teachers’ contracts.

“If we had excessed eight different teachers, there would be just as many people here supporting them,” said Hogan.

Guidance Counselors

Teachers’ positions aren’t the only ones in jeopardy.  One high school guidance counselor may be let go, and that counselor’s students will be reorganized among the remaining counselors.  Each counselor would then be responsible for approximately 275 students, a change which has parents worrying about the quality of the resulting student-counselor relationship.

“If a guidance counselor is let go, how does the student get to know the new counselor,” asked Josephine Demarco, who explained that juniors who have already forged a relationship with their present guidance counselor may be shifted to a new one, forcing them to hastily gain the trust of a new counselor right before college application season.

“We will be handling it as sensitively as we can, but we have confidence that we can make the transition...the [guidance] staff is solid throughout,” replied Hogan.

Summer School

As the budget currently stands, summer school will no longer be offered within the district.  Rather than housing summer school within the district at a cost to taxpayers of $80,000, the students, a total of about 150 annually, would be responsible for their own fees of $500 per course.  Those students would then go to a different local program, like those offered in Garden City.

“Extra help is still offered, Regents prep is still offered…early intervention programs remain intact,” said Peluso.  “Our hope is that students will take advantage of those resources during the year.”

Nurses

The high school has always operated with two nurses, but the new budget calls for one nurse to be let go.  That nurse is Reba Miller.

“I am proud to work in this district and to be part of a team that wants the best for their students,” said Miller, whose position will likely be excessed.

“I’m a mom of three, but my students are also my kids.  I take care of staff and employees.  We always have a pregnant teacher around,” she joked.

The nurses are like mothers, according to one student who broke his leg in gym class and was comforted by Nurse Miller until his mother arrived.  Losing one would take a toll on morale as well as safety, according to parents.

“If there are [over 800] students and one nurse and a kid in gym class gets hurt, but there are six kids in the nurse’s office with headaches, stomachaches…do you remove them? Do you lock them out? What do you do with them,” asked Loraine Magaraci.

“There are hundreds of scenarios we could think of,” said Hogan. “The reality is that the second nurse works primarily as a sub nurse in other buildings and often the high school does have only one nurse.

"It’s not optimal, but there could be many different scenarios,” he added.

The Game Plan

The board is hopeful that this shortage of funds will not last forever, and is taking steps to fix things.  If and when enrollment increases and funds are available, teachers who were excessed have preferred eligibility if they choose to reapply to a position in the district. 

“Don’t leave here thinking the people at this table have given up,” said Hogan.  “We’re not giving up and no one in this audience is giving up.”

The board has become involved in a class action lawsuit along with over 40 other districts over the proposed sewage tax by Nassau County.

Residents urged each other to contact their elected officials to protest the “last hired, first fired” laws.

“We’re trying to do everything we can,” said Board member Anthony Brita.  “We have a lobbying day coming up and a few of us are going up to Albany.”

There will be a contingency budget workshop on March 29.  The budget will be finalized on April 12.

To see what cuts were proposed for non-instructional items,