Eastport South Manor School Board Lays Off 23 Teachers

A handful of teachers brushed away tears at last week’s meeting of the Eastport South Manor Board of Education as President Vincent Sweeney read the names of 23 teachers who will be laid off next year. The Junior-Senior High School cafeteria—at one point filled with almost 200 parents, students and teachers last Wednesday, March 16—cleared out in a matter of minutes as he continued reading the names of teachers who had their careers in the district cut short.

Superintendent of Schools Mark A. Nocero said that the layoffs were a necessary step in order to slash $3.4 million from the district’s 2011-12 budget, resulting in an $82.4 million spending plan. The elimination of the 24 teaching positions—one was unfilled—in addition to cutting two as yet unidentified administrative positions, will trim $2.3 million off next year’s proposed budget. The remaining $1.1 million in cuts will come from slashing programs in the school, including theater and athletics, among others.

The teachers who were laid off were: special education teachers Michael Kazaks, Kerri Wood, Jacqueline Kunzer, Dawn Skelton, Rebecca Abrams, Peter Edwards, Karen Furlani, Lisa Maffia and Jennifer Abramovich; business teacher Elizabeth Kraemer; health teacher Philip Kordula; English teachers Lara Sauer and Jennifer Alvarado; reading teacher Lisa Corbett; math teacher Danielle Falco; science teacher Deborah Hauer; elementary school teachers Melissa Mohr, Charissa Voss, Amy Schiebl, Michele Tester and Cheryl Manthe; and physical education teachers Brian Sacks and Rebecca Thorn.

In the wake of the firings, Eastport South Manor Teachers Association Vice President Mike Doyle said the union has served the district with a notice of claim in reference to a large number of special education teachers that have been slashed from the district’s ranks. When Mr. Doyle announced at last week’s School Board meeting that the union plans to sue the district over the teacher cuts, the room erupted into cheers.

Nine special education teachers will be without jobs in the district next year as a result of the program cuts. The proposed alterations to the special education program—which are expected to save the district about $780,000 next year, according to school officials—decrease the number of certified special education teachers in the high school and adds certified special education teaching assistants to work in their place. Next year, special needs students will meet with their teachers every other day, as opposed to the current model where they work with the same teacher every day.

Marie Patton, the parent of a student in the special education program in the district, asked board members to reconsider the cuts.

“Your program has given our families hope,” Ms. Patton said. “I ask you not to make short-term saving costs to the program.”

Ms. Patton said that she and other parents of children with special needs are extremely proud of the district’s well-respected program, noting that many residents moved into the district in order to enroll their children in the program. She added that with the proposed changes, many parents are considering moving their children from the district and into different programs.

Oregon native Sherice Burns, a parent of a student in the special needs program, addressed board members just after they terminated the 23 teachers—including her son’s teacher, Ms. Furlani.

“I moved here specifically for this school district,” Ms. Burns said, noting that she left her family behind in Oregon in order to give her son the best special needs education she could find. Ms. Burns said that she missed her younger daughter’s birthday party to be at last week’s board meeting, and that earlier that same evening she had the first conversation she’s had with her son in five years.

“He asked, ‘Where’s Ms. Furlani?’” Ms. Burns said. “That is the first conversation I had with my son in five years. The decision tonight was to cut a person who taught my son how to live. I am so disappointed. My son will never be the same.”

She added that in light of the changes in the program, she will probably move her family out of the district—and out of New York entirely.

Ms. Burns’s comments concluded a nearly three-hour public comment session during which nearly 30 community members pleaded with members of the board to reconsider the layoffs and program cuts.

Mr. Nocero addressed those attending the meeting—which had been moved from the board’s small meeting room into the cafeteria to accommodate the swell in attendance—explaining that the cuts were anticipated by the district.

“We’ve been aware for the last several years that we have financial problems.” Mr. Nocero said. “We didn’t wait until this point to look for savings.”

District officials had to make the cuts to offset a spike in contracted and nondiscretionary expenses, including retirement and health care benefits for the district’s staff.

The proposed budget touts a $3.1 million—or 3.9-percent—spending increase from this year’s budget. The increase falls just short of a $85.2 million contingency budget, according to district officials.

The budget cuts also drew strong reactions from the parents of children in the district’s theater program. The program is expected to sustain $30,000 in cuts next year, causing the abolishment of the stagecraft curriculum. Parents offered suggestions to the board on how to better cut funding from programs, while minimally affecting students.

Parent Barbara Stanco asked the board to consider cutting theatrical productions, such as this year’s production of “Beauty and the Beast,” as opposed to cutting the entire stagecraft program. Her logic: the show cannot go on without the proper training that students learn through the stagecraft program. “Productions are the icing on the cake,” she said.

South Manor alumnus Patricia Runcie-Rice made the trek from Manhattan in order to address the board on the uncertain future of the theater program—a curriculum she believes all students should have the right to experience.

“If we take away theater arts, we’re robbing these kids,” said Ms. Runcie-Rice, an actor, director and playwright. “To cut it all away now would be a step backward.”

Also cut from the district’s ranks were two prominent athletic coaches: Brian Sacks, a physical education teacher and coach of the high school football program, and Philip Kordula, a eight-year veteran health teacher in the district who coaches baseball.

If the superintendent’s proposed budget is adopted, taxpayers will see a 5.59-percent tax levy increase next year. Last year, taxpayers footed a 3.61-percent tax levy increase.

The Board of Education is expected to adopt a budget on April 13.