Teachers and Parents Speak Out About Elementary Position Cuts in Adopted Westhampton Beach Budget

Sixth grade teacher Sean Montpetit said he is more than invested in making the Westhampton Beach School District the best possible place to raise a family, educate children and work, but he’s fearful administration and the Board of Education are not on the same page.

This sentiment came following the announcement of almost 10 teacher positions expected to be eliminated through attrition and excessing as part of next year’s $64,879,213 proposed budget, which was unanimously adopted Monday night.

“I’m angry, I’m sad and I’m scared for the future of the Westhampton Beach School District,” said the nearly 20-year educator, who is also an alumnus, coach, director of a youth sports program, spouse of an in-district teacher and parent of three elementary school students. “My own children’s elementary school opportunities have been dwindling each year since they have started. A club here, a club there doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, but when you hear of the list of all of the activities and opportunities being slashed, it’s heartbreaking, and it makes the elementary school feel very, very bare bones.”

Alexandra Gogas, an 18-year music teacher, said if someone was to walk into the elementary school building it may seem as though everything is fine, with “dedicated teachers greeting children with smiles,” but said that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“Upon closer inspection, you’ll notice that things aren’t quite as they seem,” she said. “There is a heavy weight that is sitting on the shoulders of the teachers in our building. We are filled with apprehension and sadness. In our conversations, we sense the shared uncertainty weighing on each of us. We are not doing well. Every single one of us is impacted, and unsure about our futures.”

Part of Gogas’s sorrow also comes from the fourth and fifth grade chorus and first grade music programs being cut in half, and band rehearsal slated to be effective next school year with cuts to morning buses. Odyssey of the Mind, a competition club that teaches students how to develop and use their natural creativity to become problem-solvers, was also cut.

“While we do realize that it’s not an easy thing to balance a budget while facing declining enrollment, you must also acknowledge that we have lost so much over the past decade. Every year, the cuts continue to get deeper and deeper,” Gogas said. “When will it stop? How much deeper can it realistically go? We pour our hearts and souls into doing our best to ensure we are doing what is best for our students. What’s the long-term vision? How secure are our jobs?”

Daniel Bennett, who has two daughters in elementary school, said while the Board of Education has repeatedly said the cuts are due to the declining enrollment, and not as much due to the budget, he wonders why the district can’t find a way to hold on to its staff.

“If that’s the case, and we can afford to keep these positions, then why hasn’t anyone considered something creative to keep these effective veteran teachers,” he asked.

Since 2015, kindergarten cohort sizes have hovered around 60 until the COVID-19 pandemic year, when enrollment reached 71 students. Since then, there has been a steady decline, with the district hitting 43 students this year. As these classes age, it has begun affecting elementary school enrollment numbers, which hovered in the 370s for many years, but have also waned, down to 325 this school year. Superintendent Dr. Carolyn Probst said the district is estimating total elementary school enrollment to be 295 next year.

Bennett proposed moving the after-school RISE — Responsive Instruction for Student Empowerment — enrichment program to during the school day to utilize teachers, citing studies that show that productivity tapers in the afternoon. He said many students are also forced to choose between the program and other clubs and activities.

He also said his children positively model their teachers day in and day out in everything they do.

“These are special, special teachers, and I am pleading and begging with you to find a solution to save them,” Bennett said. “These are highly, highly educated, smart, great teachers, and we are going to lose them to another district. We are never going to get them back, and our kids are going to pay the price.”

Colleagues who were handed pink slips, the teachers said, include eight-year fourth grade teacher Jennifer Wagner, who the district just announced applied for and earned a $5,000 grant to participate in an educational creativity workshop in Prague this summer.

“She was highlighted today, and yet she was rewarded with a pink slip,” said 29-year fourth grade teacher Jaime Portugal-Thom. “She was planning on bringing this education back to her colleagues. She did two jobs, really, for the price of one this year, servicing English as a New Language students in her classroom without the support of an ENL teacher … And she did it effectively. We are losing this talented, dedicated teacher.”

Another is five-year first grade special education teacher Lauren Gomez.

“It’s a loss for all first grade children,” Montpetit said. “Teachers are the ones who make the real day-to-day difference. Lauren is kind, thoughtful, motivating, hardworking and a special teacher who works hard to create a true bond with all of her students. She’s a huge reason for my daughter’s love of school this year.”

School Board President Suzanne Mensch said it’s the board’s responsibility to bring the most responsible budget to the community.

“This board takes this very seriously. Very seriously,” she said. “Excessing teachers is not something we are taking lightly. We value every single staff member in this district. Every teacher brings something to our students every single day, and that is so important. Taking out the individual comments about the teachers, who are all great educators, no question — that is not a disputed fact here — but managing this is extremely challenging. We know our students deserve the best that we can give them.”

She pointed to the state’s cap on property tax increases as part of the problem, saying the tightening of the district’s belt “didn’t happen in a vacuum.”

Dr. Jen Neumaier, the mother of a fifth- and sixth-grader, asked administrators and the board to consider several potential and planned-for housing complexes being built, including The Townes at Ketchaponack and Country Pointe Estates.

“It could transform the community landscape and bring in new families,” she said. “We need to acknowledge the implications it’s going to have on our schools.”

Probst said the district has been involved in all of the meetings and planning sessions for those developments as long as she’s been superintendent, and said figures Neumaier delivered are vastly different than what the district has been quoted in terms of what kind of influx it could see if and when those projects are completed. She said that’s largely because of the starting prices of most units, including, even, the affordable housing.

Michael Amy, first vice president of the Westhampton Beach Teachers Association, said layoffs should be a last option, not a first, or even only solution. He said what he sees also hurting the district is the fact that when teachers retire from Westhampton Beach, they are responsible for 55 percent of their healthcare plan for family coverage, and 40 percent for individual coverage.

“The unfortunate truth is that Westhampton Beach has the second-worst retirement health care package in Suffolk County,” he said. “This is a significant increase in the expenses of an educator that they need to take into account before they retire. The expenses are equal to an additional mortgage payment for most people.”

Haley Luzim, a mother of four students in all three buildings, and a teacher in Sag Harbor, said administrators also need to think about how this will affect students for decades to come.

“I can say from experience that we are excessing once-in-a-lifetime teachers,” she said. “Teachers who are so impactful that they change the course of a child’s life. Teachers that instill a love of learning and a passion to succeed. Teachers who take a child’s weaknesses and turn them into strengths. Teachers so knowledgeable, devoted and impactful that at 20th high school reunions they are still being talked about with admiration. So, I beg you, as many have, to try to keep these teachers. Be creative. Provide an incentive. We can’t afford to lose them.”

Many of the parents and teachers also asked what the district is planning long-term. The superintendent and board president said the district will revisit the enrollment trends each year to see what adjustments need to be made moving forward.

“It is outrageous to think that this is where we are at,” Montpetit said. “As their colleague, I have seen firsthand the impact that all of them have had on their students. These are experienced teachers with a love for their job who are committed to Westhampton Beach. Each one deserves a place here.”