Area High Schools Brace for Staff Cuts

For Parkville High School's new principal Charlene Dimino, a decrease in the school system budget and the subsequent loss of teaching positions is the biggest challenge she's faced so far.

"No one wants to leave here," Dimino said in a recent interview with Patch. "That's one of the hardest things."

The Baltimore County Board of Education’s $1.6 billion budget for the 2012 fiscal year calls for 196 teaching positions to be left vacant. The county school system has stressed there will be no teaching layoffs; the vacancies will come through attrition ranging from retirements to those leaving the system for other jobs.

While county teachers are guaranteed to still have jobs, the location in the county those jobs might be remains a question for many educators. Positions not left vacant as a result of attrition will be cut by transferring teachers to other schools around the county after final staffing decisions are made.

Dimino said Parkville High School would lose 12.4 positions as a result of the budget cuts, either through retirements or transfers to other teaching positions.

Those cuts will come from every department within the school, from social studies to English, but will not affect the 12 Advanced Placement courses offered at Parkville High School.

The Teachers Association of Baltimore County (TABCO) recently released an estimation that Parkville’s staff would be reduced by 11.5 faculty members. Parkville High is the largest school in Parkville and has a student population of 1,598 students, with a capacity of 2,100.

TABCO also projected that among other area schools, Overlea High School stands to lose 8.5 positions, while Loch Raven High School will lose six.

Cheryl Bost, TABCO's president, she is concerned about projected staffing numbers for next year, which she said would increase average class sizes from 26 to 29 students.

Dimino agreed, saying she expects class sizes to increase by three or four students in the coming school year.

"All of the proposed cuts are coming from teachers, not administrators, and that is an unbalanced approach to dealing with the budget," Bost said. "Schools are going to have to deal with a dramatic increase in class sizes."

Baltimore County Public Schools spokesman Charles Herndon wrote in an e-mail that there are several facts to keep in mind when examining the school system’s proposed FY 2012 operating budget, which includes funding for more than 8,500 teachers. Among those facts are:

• All teachers will continue to be employed—no layoffs or furloughs.
• Eligible teachers will receive step pay increases.  
• Annually, principals plan for their staffing needs according to student enrollment. The process will not be completed until school opens in August. (Staffing is formula-based depending on the number of students.)
• Enrollment trends, summer school outcomes, retirements and resignations are factors that are considered by school administrators in staffing changes.
•  Advanced Placement courses will remain a priority for the school system.

"When you're trying to grow a school you have to make tough decisions—it's all you can do to make those decisions in the best interests of the students," Dimino said.

Essex-Middle River Patch editor Ron Snyder contributed to this report.