Another round of layoffs in District 15

For the third time in seven months, the Lawrence School District plans to lay off staff. Twenty-seven hall monitors, clerical and grounds crew employees were notified on Dec. 6 that their positions could be eliminated as early as Dec. 31 as a cost-saving measure, pending Board of Education and Nassau County Civil Service Commission approval.

District Superintendent Dr. John Fitzsimons said the district’s goal is to have the positions removed by the end of the year. However, the next school board meeting is not scheduled until Feb. 15 Fitzsimons said a board meeting has yet to be scheduled between now and February.

Deputy Superintendent Gary Schall said that the cost-cutting should save the district at least $1 million over the next two years. The district is looking to cut costs, Schall explained, by replacing the clerical positions with technology such as voicemail, phones and computers, with the aim of helping save money on expenses that aren’t required.

“We’re grateful for what these people have done for the district,” Schall said of the employees to be laid off, “but we want to look for a more current way to provide safety in schools and re-evaluate the clerical work load.”

Eliminating the positions should help the district offset the expected loss of revenue when budgets are capped, Schall said. “Right now, [Gov.-elect Andrew] Cuomo is talking about a 2 percent [tax] cap on all budgets, which is an indication of pressures school districts are facing,” he said. “We’re trying to help keep a tax increase for next year as low as possible.”

As school districts anticipate increasing costs of health insurance, salaries and pensions, Cuomo has proposed a tax cap that, if passed by the State Senate and Assembly, would limit increases in school spending to 2 percent (or the rate of inflation) of a school district’s budget.

Asher Mandsdorf, vice president of the Lawrence School Board, said that many school districts are facing tough times as they struggle to maintain services while federal and state governments are cutting school aid. “A cost correction is needed now to avoid programmatic realignment,” or loss of programs, Mansdorf said. “The only other way to cut costs besides layoffs is for the federal and state governments to give us money. We trust our administrators and their recommendations. We, the board, try to come to a fair decision for the people who populate this neighborhood.”

Maureen Carroll, whose son, Patrick, is in sixth grade at Lawrence Middle School, received a Facebook message from another parent in the district telling her about the layoffs. Carroll said she blames the school board trustees for the cuts, adding that the trustees are constantly finding ways to take things away from the children.

“I was in absolute disbelief when I heard about the cuts,” Carroll said. “At November’s board meeting, board members told us the district was in good financial shape, and now we have to lay off all these people.”

Mansdorf said that at November’s meeting it was announced that the audit report was in good shape, and nothing was said about the overall financial shape of the district.

The district is looking to install video surveillance and put alarms on doors as a way to redeploy security, rather than having hall monitors, Schall said.

Carroll said she is worried that by the time her son gets to the high school, there will be only four security guards per 1,000 students. She added that teachers aren’t always able to watch the students, so if there are no hall monitors, students will wander around and cause mischief.

“It’s everybody’s responsibility to maintain safety of the children,” Fitzsimons said, responding to Carroll’s comment. “The school is filled with adults, so when you look at the ratio of adults to children, the level of supervision is very reasonable. I think our schools are safe. It’s not a high-security facility.”

In explaining the layoffs, Fitzsimons said that teachers are in the center of the circle of importance in schools, and that if cuts must take place, it is better to lay off employees who are further from the center.

The two other recent layoffs, however, included teachers.

“If the building is less clean and less clerical work is getting done, we’ll have to deal with it,” Fitzsimons said. “Because we want to stay out of the center of the circle to preserve as many teachers and programs as possible.”