HOWELL – Howell Township EducationAssociation (HTEA) President William J. O’Brien had two requests for the Howell K-8 School District Board of Education recently, after more than 400 pink slips were distributed to teachers and other employees.
First, he wanted the words “with regret” added to the resolution abolishing the positions.
Second, O’Brien asked that the names of all 311 teachers whose jobs are in jeopardy be read before the vote on the resolutions was taken.
The HTEA represents the district’s teachers.
“The whole thing is unconscionable,” O’Brien said during last week’s board meeting. “I understand it’s not your fault. The whole thing was laid at your doorstep. You have difficult choices to make. We hope you will use good judgment as you make those choices.”
Board members reluctantly voted 6-0 on the reduction in force resolutions, including the words “with regret.”
Board President Mary Cerretani answered “yes” in a near whisper when her name was called for the vote.
O’Brien was the first speaker during the public portion of the meeting. He wasted no time going after Gov. Chris Christie.
This spring, Christie has been the target of teachers union leaders, school board members and some residents who have objected to the $820 million reduction in school aid he has ordered for the 2010-11 academic year. Thousands of teachers and other school employees around New Jersey are expected to be laid off before the next school year, in part because of that reduction in state aid.
Final numbers of employees being let go will not be known until all retirements are accounted for at the end of June.
“For people who have worked their entire careers in Howell … this cuts at the core,” O’Brien said. “People gave up opportunities in other places for a guarantee of income and their benefits. Now everything is turned upside down as a result of King Christie, our governor.”
Howell lost more than $5 million in state aid for the upcoming school year.
“For you, Mrs. Cerretani, it must be a little bit like being the captain of the Titanic,” O’Brien said. “I have been in Howell for 37 years and this is easily like one of the worst days in Howell.”
District administrators sent out the reduction in force (RIF) notices to comply with contract terms that require employees be given 60 days notice that their jobs may be in jeopardy, Superintendent of Schools Enid Golden said after the meeting.
“We felt that protecting the board was something we had to do,” she said.
Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Personnel Karen Jones told those in attendance at the meeting that the actual layoffs to be made will be “nowhere near” the number of RIF notices that were sent out.
“We couldn’t operate the district with that number” of teachers laid off, she said.
This week the Howell Township Council will certify a tax levy for the K-8 school district for the upcoming school year. The council’s decision on the tax levy could have a bearing on the number of school employees who will be laid off.
The council met on May 18, after this edition went to press.
O’Brien said he does not consider the April 20 school budget defeat to be a “mandate” from the public.
“We have a history of not passing budgets,” he said. “We did not need the governor to ask the people in Howell to vote down the budget. They have done it about 35 times out of at least 37 years. It did not come as a surprise. For anybody to say there is some kind of mandate in the numbers … I think it’s ridiculous.”
Voters turned down the $66.2 million general fund tax levy portion of the proposed $108.2 million budget by a vote of 5,024 to 3,249. About 34 percent of Howell’s registered voters went to the polls, a much higher turnout than usual for school board elections in Howell.
The teachers union is the only union in the district that has not agreed to accept a salary freeze for the upcoming school year.
Central office employees, non-union department heads, principals, vice principals and supervisors all previously agreed to a salary freeze.
Heather Van Vliet, vice president of the HTEA, asked how many administrators had received RIF notices.
“There is a question out there and we are hesitant to ask it,” Van Vliet said. “We have to have shared sacrifices, but it’s not just sacrifices. It’s like a bloodbath. I would like to know how many administrators have received RIF letters. You don’t have to respond to that. That was a rhetorical question. I know this is a ‘cover your posterior’ thing.”
Jones said administrators will receive RIF letters at the next board meeting.
“They will receive their letters just as the teachers have,” Jones said.
“We don’t want to see anybody getting fired,” Van Vliet said. “We do want to have shared sacrifice. That is what everybody wants from us. The bottom line is until you let them know they are coming back, these people have letters that say they don’t have a job. They are under a lot of stress. The next six weeks they will do their jobs because they are professionals.”
Mayor Robert F. Walsh and Township Council members agreed last month to hire a forensic accountant to go over the defeated school budget and to look for any possible savings.
By press time, 75 school employees were slated to lose their jobs, including eight administrators, 15 custodians, instructional teachers, teaching assistants, and guidance counselors.
“The initial 75 are still going to happen,” Golden said on May 14. “But I’m sure a great majority [of those who received a RIF notice] will be brought back.”
The council could opt to leave the proposed 2010-11 tax levy untouched, “which would be great,” Golden said.
“We already feel devastated with the cuts going into the budget,” she said.
But Golden was not holding out much hope that no further cuts would be made.
“Every time the budget goes to the council, we get a cut of between $1 million and $2 million,” she said.
When asked to sum up the past several months of budget discussions, the state aid reduction, the defeat of the tax levy and planning for layoffs, Golden had one word: “horrible.”
“In the past we have always put wonderful programs and new technology into the budget,” she said. “It’s sort of like watching the district decline. And it’s not just this year. It’s not a one-year thing. We are going to have problems next year, too,” the superintendent said.
Do you have an opinion about this issue? Letters to the editor may be submitted via email to [email protected].