BOE looks for union concessions

WEBUTUCK — A group of teachers and staff in the North East Central School District (commonly known as Webutuck) joined parents and students in protesting the district’s tentative staff reduction proposals, which were discussed privately with the affected personnel late last month.About a dozen staff were notified by district Superintendent Steven Schoonmaker during private meetings on March 24. They were told that their positions or particular classes they taught were on a short list of potential reductions the district could make to meet budget goals for the 2011-12 school year.The most recent draft budget available to the public has an estimated tax levy increase of 2 percent and a $300,806 budget-to-budget increase. By comparison, Schoonmaker said that a roll-over budget (in which all programs are maintained from one year to the next) would result in a $1.05 million budget-to-budget increase and an estimated 10 percent tax levy increase.Of the $745,029 in reductions to get from $1.05 million to $300,806, more than $220,000 would be saved by eliminating the positions of staff retiring this year. Another nearly $410,000 would be found through reductions to salaries and benefits from a number of positions. The school’s participation with Dutchess County’s Council on Addiction Prevention and Education (CAPE) would also be cut for a savings of more than $22,000.Dozens of upset stakeholders filled the audience seats at the Monday, March 28, Board of Education (BOE) meeting, where Schoonmaker and the board emphasized that the reductions were only possibilities and no decisions had been finalized. Schoonmaker said that he stressed to each of the staff members during their meetings with him the decisions were not yet final. But public comments have indicated that many students and parents were under the impression that the layoffs were a done deal or that specific teachers were being targeted for removal. Students have passed around petitions to keep teachers and classes and there was even discussion of a student “sit-in” in the school’s hallways that never materialized.Phasing out the school’s French foreign language program, discontinuing the Home & Careers classes, eliminating a librarian’s position after a retirement this year and cutting some of the technology classes were all specifically criticized during the opening public comments session.Seeing that many electives were on the chopping block, several people asked the board to consider the negative impacts of students having too much free time during the day.“I’m concerned that if we don’t have electives to offer, what do we have?” teacher and parent Tammy Nethercott asked. “I don’t want to have two or more study halls per student per day.”Many questions were raised about the French program being discontinued. Schoonmaker clarified that, if it was eliminated, students who had started the program already would be able to finish out their high school career learning French, and it would be phased out from there.“There have been a whole lot of discussions going on,” BOE President Dale Culver said, “but not a lot of final decisions have been made.”At the March 24 meeting, the state had not yet passed a budget, but was expected to do so in the following few days. A budget was passed by the deadline, on Thursday, March 31. As expected, it restored some, but not all, of the reductions to school districts’ state aid as outlined in Gov. Cuomo’s budget proposal.Budget constraints leading to potential staff reductions at Webutuck were based, in part, on the governor’s proposal. Having less of its state aid cut than originally expected, Culver and Schoonmaker both explained, would alleviate some of the district’s expected fiscal woes next year.“We’re going to be in a different place when we finish than maybe what everybody thought last Thursday,” Culver told the audience.Although Culver said the board was aware that the superintendent was planning to have discussions with staff members in jeopardy, he himself felt that the notifications should have been handled differently, and at least made later on in the process when the district had a firmer idea of which positions or programs would definitely be eliminated.“I think we may have gotten a little ahead as far as what’s preliminary and what’s final,” he said.As far as solutions, Culver said the board would be meeting in executive session that night and continuing to meet to develop a “prioritized” list of programs to use in the future.The high school guidance office was finishing up scheduling for next year that week, Webutuck High School Principal Ken Sauer said. By the time the district decides which courses will be cut, students will have already scheduled their classes for next fall. If their classes have been cut in the process, students will then have to go to the guidance office and reschedule their courses.When questioned, Schoonmaker said the list of potential reductions was made through a number of discussions with board members, administrators and building principals. Costs, programs and the master schedule all factored into the decision, he said.“People always say, ‘Please tell me sooner rather than later,’” he said, when asked by a member of the public why the discussions with staff members were made so early. “We felt you had a right to know prior to a last-minute situation.”Financially, it was suggested that the district’s collective bargaining groups might agree to reduced salaries across the board to ensure that no one lost their job.“I see the willingness of people to work together,” Culver replied. “But it may take a combination of people working together and looking at things they didn’t think were possible three months ago.“I’m going to seek concessions from the unions to help restore programming to what we all believe it should be,” Culver elaborated after the meeting. “This is the first time in the last three years that we’ve considered reductions in staff and programming based strictly from a dollar standpoint rather than drops in enrollments or program consolidation.” Culver clarified that not all of the proposed reductions were based solely on the district’s financial restrictions and that the agreement he hoped to work toward would not restore all programs and staff reductions.“There are kids who depend on [an agreement] and employees who depend on it,” Culver said, “and I believe that everybody involved will step up.”The Board of Education is scheduled to hold two more meetings; one on Monday, April 4 (after this paper’s press deadline), and one on Monday, April 11, before the meeting on Tuesday, April 19, when it is expected to vote to adopt the budget to present to voters. The public will vote on the budget on Tuesday, May 17.“This will be one of the most critical two-week periods this school has had in the last few years,” Culver said.