Easton Area School District teachers express outrage, frustration over school board's approved cuts

Palmer Elementary School teacher Connie Yaqub would rather take a pay freeze, pay cut or lose her tuition benefits than see Easton Area School District programs cut or a single colleague lose a job.

"I know I am not alone," Yaqub told the Easton Area School Board before its budget vote late Thursday night.

In a 5-3 vote, the board approved its $131.5 million budget that raises property taxes 2.35 percent and slashes 70 teaching positions, including 11 technology coordinators, five music teachers, literacy coaches, elementary intervention teachers and crisis counselors.

Only eight teachers have put in for retirement this year, so many teachers will be losing their jobs, although it is still unclear how many teachers and who, teachers union President Kevin Deely said.

The district is awaiting approval from the Pennsylvania Department of Education to eliminate jobs on the basis of a curriculum realignment to improve student education. In Pennsylvania, school districts cannot lay off staff for economic reasons.

Once the district knows how many positions it can eliminate, a complex bumping system will ensue to determine who loses their jobs. If the state denies the request, the district will dip into its $21 million reserve fund or make drastic program cuts.

Business Manger Marie Guidry estimated that if all the laid-off employees collect unemployment for an entire year, it will cost the district $1.4 million.

Academic necessity or the bottom line?

Superintendent Susan McGinley continually maintained Thursday evening the cuts are being made out of academic necessity as Deely pressed her to say otherwise.

"We know that is not really true," Deely said Friday. "We know it is financially motivated."

If McGinley admits the cuts are to save money, the union will sit down and talk, he said. But there must be administrative sacrifices. Teachers won't support a salary freeze, although they could support something, he said.

"I can't speculate and say exactly what we would do but we are not unreasonable," Deely said. "It can't be all giving by us. There has to be a demonstration they are willing to cut from within."

Cheston Elementary School teacher Tammy Hetzel was so infuriated watching the board vote from home via an online feed that she drove to the high school after 11 p.m.

"We are all in the same boat. Would I have taken a pay freeze?" Hetzel queried. "Absolutely. Everyone in this district would if it started at the top."

Deely admitted there is what he called a minority of teachers who are open to wage freezes but he says the majority of teachers are not.

Deely surveyed his membership, and 90 percent of teachers were against a pay freeze, he said. The union is governed by representatives elected in each building and all are given a voice, he said.

He claims he repeatedly sent e-mails to administrators asking how many jobs could be saved if the union made concessions, and he saw no response.

Officials also rebuffed his efforts to institute an early retirement incentive, which could have saved $3 million since 35 teachers would have qualified, Deely said.

McGinley said Thursday she tried for two years to get the union to reopen its contract.

Teachers react to board's decisions

The board heard from more than 35 people for hours Thursday night imploring the board to save programs and jobs.

Teacher Marie Miller emphasized music programs weren't saved when the board voted to keep funding teacher stipends for after-school music. The budget cuts five music teachers and that means programs that are held during the regular school day like third-grade string instruments will be lost, she said.

She questioned how an ensemble of 150 to 300 students could be better managed by one director than a director who has the help of an assistant.

"Why are we losing these positions if we are not doing it for financial reasons?" Miller queried.

Third-grade teacher Sean Killen posed to the board and union the very questions he always asks his students: "Did you work hard? Did you work together? And did you come up with every possible solution to solve this problem?"

If there were even a glimmer this had happened, the budget should be tabled, Killen said.

Computer Technology Coordinator Susan Joseph said the board "cut us off at the knees" when it voted to eliminate almost the entire technology department.

"I hope that in a year's time you review every single cut you made and are willing to say we were wrong 'cause you are wrong," Joseph said. "It is emotional. I don't know how I am going to tell my 8-year-old when I get home that his technology coordinator isn't going to be there."

Throughout Thursday's meeting, directors asked many questions and indicated they felt the entire budgetary process had been botched. But many expressed they felt it was too late to fix the budget this year.

Director Kerri Leonard-Ellison urged her colleagues to stop, hold more budget hearings and cut the fat. But the majority didn't heed her warnings.